carrie kim

Shoes anyone?

Does anyone want these Boden sandals?  You can have them for the cost of the shipping. I bought them before I had little E and I've never worn them. I think it was the summer of 2005. Is that right?  I can't believe it was that long ago. They are size 37.  My foot is narrow but I was hoping when I bought these that they'd fit.  Well, I was wrong.  And I guess lazy too, because I never returned them.  I've tried to pass them off to everyone I know, but no one else is a size 37.  Am I really the only size 37?  If your a size 37 and would like to actually wear them, unlike me who just keeps them at the bottom of her closet, leave a comment and I'll get back to you by email. 

Hope your weekends are going smoothly :)

Saturday July 6th: I took these to Goodwill today.  I hope they find a nice home:)

Peg Board Makeover

Take your peg board from zero to hero in one afternoon!
(Does anyone else remember that hilarious infomercial for some kind of hair brush that would take the frumpy girl "from zero to hero in 10 minutes" ?  It still cracks me up)

I think peg boards look a bit unsightly naked.  There are a ton of tutorials and magazine pics using peg board that's been "dressed up".  But normally it's framed, which looks terrific but can be a bit of work to do. 
After some experimentation I decided it looks great without a frame too.  Just make sure you have straight cuts.  After you cut the board the size you want, use sand paper to clean up the cut edges and then paint the shiny side.   I thought the holes might be messy to paint. Fortunately I was wrong.  It took the paint great and only needed two or three coats.  It was fast and not at all messy. 

Tomato can lids covered with fabric make great magnetic memo boards.  When you hang your board don't forget to put nylon spacers between it and the wall so there's room for the hooks to stick through. 

And that's it, now you have a pretty peg board. 

If you don't want to make your own, I'll have some of these in my shop later in the summer.  I've put all of my crafting and making on hold until our house is finished. 

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Sources: fabric, pouch, paint

Making do or is it due?

This is from March.  It was a very chilly morning and I told Little E that she couldn't come in the kitchen without slippers on.  Her slippers where MIA so she improvised. It turns out that a play oven mitt and plastic container can keep your feet warm too. 

Little E's seven magic words

"Do you want to draw with me?"
I can't resist it.  Who could?  When she comes up and says these magic words I can't help but get out the pens and paper and draw with her.  She really loves to draw and I love to hear what all of her squiggles, lines and circles are. 
So if I don't post anything new or do any chores or get dinner ready, wink wink Big E:), you now know it's not my fault.  Little E made me do it. 
Have a great Wednesday everyone!

P.S.
I'm also a sucker for "Do you want to make craps with me?"  She still mispronounces crafts :)

Tanya's Korean cold noodle soup

Here's a recipe for a delicious Korean cold noodle soup. You are probably thinking that this post has something to do with snow crab but it doesn't.  I haven't bought a camera yet so I'm using old pictures and this is as close as I could get to cold noodle soup.  Which isn't close at all.   I think the onions with cilantro in this soup are more Central Asian than Korean, but I'm not sure.  We love to eat this dish on sweltering summer days. 

I recommend making the stock ahead of time, at least the day before.  That way you won't have to cram it into the freezer or put ice cubes in it to chill it enough to serve.  This is a cold noodle soup after all; warm doesn't get it.
Stock-
beef shank
several ox tails
several bunches of green onions
several heads of garlic- so lots and lots of cloves
a lot of whole dried red chili peppers

Combine everything together in a big stock pot, cover with water and cook for a few hours.  Strain the stock and skim off the fat.  

Cook Korean style wheat noodles according to the package directions.   Rinse the noodles in cold water and set aside. The noodles that I just used are labeled mak gooksoo. I don't know what mak gooksoo means.  I picked them because they are Korean and there is a picture on the package that resembles this dish.  I try not to ask too many questions when I'm at the Korean grocery. I'm not sure why, but I pretend that I know what I'm doing.  Having already received unsolicited "explainers" on kimchi and yellow croaker,  I normally am a bit defensive by the time I get to the noodle isle.  I don't want to admit I have no idea what type of noodle to buy.  So, I rely on pictures.

Peel cucumbers and cut into cute little strips.  It's very important that the strips are cute otherwise the entire dish will surely be ruined:) Season with salt and a little rice wine vinegar and set aside.

Cut white onions in half and then cut them as thin as you can.  Season with salt, fresh cilantro, and a little rice wine vinegar.  Scrunch it together with your hands.  Set it aside.

This soup is great with left over bulgogi or kalbi in it.  Although we never have any bulgogi or kalbe left over; it's too darn tasty!  So you can make some ahead of time or you can just cook up some beef in the skillet or on the grill.  I've even used bias cuts of flank steak cut into thin strips and cooked fast in a skillet. Whatever you use make sure you cut it into small bite sized strips. 

Prepare the broth by mixing the cold stock with cold water and soy sauce to taste.  You can add red pepper powder if it's not spicy enough.  I put a lot of red peppers in my stock so I normally don't add any more. You can also add a tiny amount of good sesame oil but I didn't think it needed it this last time I made it.

Now that everything is ready you can assemble the soup. Put a serving of noodles in a bowl.  Pour the cold broth over them.  Top with the cucumbers, onions and beef.  Sprinkle with fresh dill and serve.

It's good with strips of egg on top too.  Beat eggs and cook them in a skillet like your making an omelet.  Then cut them up in strips. I don't use the egg b/c of Little E's egg allergy.  Speaking of allergies, little E eats this soup with gluten free rice noodles instead of the wheat noodles.  If your making this gluten free don't forget to use a gluten free soy sauce.

Hello Friends :)

I'd love to write that I haven't posted anything in two months because I have been so busy becoming a master carpenter and dry waller and general home building super hero AND I have finished my house AND now that all the work is done I finally have time to sit down with a glass of ice cold lemonade and open up my brand new Macbook(or whatever those cute laptops are called) and catch up on some correspondence. 

Or maybe I've had a secret book deal or gallery opening that I've been frantically preparing for and now that it's all wrapped up I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you all. 

Or even better that we're moving to Portland and that we just found out that my family AND Big E's family are moving there too! Along with my two Sarahs and their families.  What a small world!

But I probably shouldn't write any of those things because they're not true.  I've just been playing with Little E and doing house chores and trying to organize our junk.  Which isn't bad but it doesn't seem to justify a two month blogation.  (I just made that up :) get it? like a vacation? It probably already means something else) Seriously though, child rearing and house keeping are hard work.  I think our culture downplays how much effort and time go into them.  Or maybe it's just me. 

I'm in the market for a new camera. Does anyone have any advice/suggestions?  I'd love a fancy digital SLR with a super duper jumbo lens.  But I don't want to spend that kind of money.
In the meantime, does anyone want to loan me some pictures?  I'm tired of looking through all my old pictures for something to post. 

Hope your June is going swimmingly.  See you again tomorrow:)

Conversations

I took this picture when I was in Uzbekistan in 2005.  I didn't know these women.  But when I saw them my first impression was that they were kind and that I thought I'd like them.  After I spoke with them I knew I was right.  We had a short but very nice conversation. (This is a liberal use of the word conversation considering the broken fragments of Russian and hand signals I spoke with.)  Although our conversation was brief, I felt like I knew them and the impression of their kindness stayed with me. 

Jen passed this blogging questionnaire on to me a long time ago.  I think it was mid March.  Wow, time flies by when your me.  I bet it does if your you too:)

Why did you start your blog?

I started a blog to promote my Etsy shop. I enjoyed looking at other peoples blogs and after I did I felt like I knew the person a little.  I like buying things from people I know.  It makes it all better somehow:) So, I figured if I was going to keep making my pieces then I should get serious about trying to sell them.
I think there should be another question here:

Why do you have a blog now?
After I decided that I should start a blog it took me a few weeks before I wrote my first post. I remember talking to my Super BFFs on the phone, laughing and joking about what I would write about and who would read it.  What would I talk about? But after a few post I started to like writing, a little. 

And then one night I was looking at Mod Mom's Owyn toy box (daydreaming about how cute it would look in Little E's future room and thinking that I couldn't afford it but then again the room might not be finished until she's 16 so I probably have time to save up for it and then wondering if a 16 year old would need a toy box) and I thought I'd check out her feedback.  There I saw Julia Freund's Whispering Trees print. I liked it a lot. So, I clicked on her shop and then I read in her announcement something about an advent game on her blog. I had never seen a blog giveaway before and was super excited about the prospect of a free handmade gift from someone. I'd never left a comment before either.  One of my best friends left comments too and it was so fun checking to see if we won each day and leaving comments.  This is when I realized that writing and commenting on blogs is a lot like having conversations.  It changed my view of blogs and I think now even if I wasn't trying to sell anything I'd probably still have a blog.  I like the way Jen put it when she compared it to having pen pals.  It's a way to meet and keep in touch with people whom you would normally never have the opportunity to know.  I think that's something pretty great. 

How did you come up with your blog name?

Carrie Kim is the name of my Etsy shop.  It's also my name:)  I'd like to have a different name for my blog but I haven't thought of one yet.

Do your friends and family know about your blog? What do they think of it?

Some do and some don't.  I know everyone knows about my Etsy shop and I mention my blog there so I figure if anyone wants to know or if they're interested in what I'm making they would find out about it really easy.  I guess I could be wrong and everyone I know could be reading it every day, but that doesn't seem very likely:)
I think my people like my blog but then again I probably wouldn't know if they didn't. Who would want to say that they don't like someone's blog?  But I guess the question is 'what do they think of it?' not 'do they like it?'.  I'm not sure, a lot of people just don't get blogging.

How do you write posts?

I'll just refer you to Julia's answer for this one.  I felt like she was describing me.  

Have you ever had to troll or had to delete unkind comments?

Nope and I hope I never need to:) But I wouldn't hesitate to if someone did leave something nasty, so stay away meanies!

Do you check your stats? Do you care how many people read your blog? If you care, how do you increase traffic?

I check my stats all the time. It's really easy with TypePad and I love to see how many clicks I've had and I don't even care that most of them are probably me :) This question kind of implies that if you care you also try to increase traffic and I guess that's logical but I've never really thought about ways to increase traffic. Sure, I've thought about having more traffic just not about how to get it.  Ah, this answer is revealing a fundamental flaw in my goal making.  I like to think about the end result and not how to reach it.   My slightly more northern Southern BFF was right, I do need to make action plans:)

What kind of blogs/posts interest you?

Blogs that are pretty and that are about art or crafts or family or life.  I really really like to see pictures of work spaces or closets(if they're pretty and organized, of course).  I like to read about and see pictures of sewing and knitting projects too.  I don't do either but I like to imagine I do:) Although I haven't seen very much of it, I love to read about people's views on social issues.

What do you like and dislike about blogging?

I really don't dislike much.  Other than sometimes I get a little uncomfortable about privacy.  Overall I've become a big fan of blogging.

Going Home :)

We're heading back home for the rest of the weekend.  Yay!!!!
It's going to be a short visit but hey, a visit's a visit.  Right:)

Have a great weekend!

Here's tonight's plan:

1. Go to my shop and buy everything in it. (Please do not skip this step as it will completely ruin the rest of the plan)

2. Then meet me at the Wiksten sale at 7pm (central time) tonight.

3. Next we buy everything at Jenny's sale. 

4. After steps one through three are completed, meet me at the coffee place on the corner.  You know the one with the girl with the red hair.  You know the place where the coffee isn't nearly as good as Starbucks but no one ever wants to admit it because what we all really like is that it's not a Starbucks.  Do you know the one?  By the time we get there the lady with the guitar should have started playing:)

5. Finally we can just sit around and sip coffee, except I'll be sipping a large fountain coke b/c I love coke:)

Isn't that a great plan?  I can't think of a better one right now.  I haven't eaten dinner yet so I might try to rework it to include some Chinese food or maybe some sushi or maybe just a bunch of donuts:)  I'm really hungry.

Hope all your nights go as planned:)

I heart Etsy's front page today!

Thanks KupKup for making such a swell treasury!  I love the blues and oranges. 

I have a "Keep it Together!" desktop piece that has been waiting, very patiently, in my notebook.  I named her Stitches and Circles and she would feel right at home in this treasury.  Ahhh, too bad I haven't made her yet. 

Have a great day everyone! 

P.S. I think today is actually the two posts day.  Yes, two posts on Thursday.  That sounds right:)

My Magic Purse

After reading Susy's blog I decided to look and see what's in my own bag. I'm shocked how much stuff this little purse I'm carrying holds.  Really I think it's magic.  I wonder if Julia knows that she makes magic bags? I used to think it would only hold my cell phone and keys and maybe a little money.  But now, now I'm thinking I can just keep cramming things in this little purse forever and it will never quite fill up.

How do you like my tiny little photo?  I took it with my phone.  I guess the camera in my phone is for phone viewing only.  Or for little tiny mouse blogs:) Well, since I'm sure you can't see it, I'll tell you what's in the picture. This is what was inside my little purse this morning.
2 pretty pencils
scraps of paper to write on
checkbook
passport
money- bills and change
9 receipts (I don't even think I've been to nine places this week! What are all these receipts?)
Space Monkey lip balm - Yay! I found it in my car
keys
ear piece for my cell phone
cell phone (not in the picture but it was in the bag)
various cards- credit and coupon varieties
a few candy wrappers
and last but not least the phone number for the police officer who's handling my case and the serial numbers for my stolen GPS and real camera.  I just can't let it go! 

Have a great Wednesday everyone!  I think today will be a two post day. Maybe.  I meant to write about blogging this morning.  Jen passed on a little blogging questionnaire to me a long long time ago and I've never done it. 
Oh and today is the grand opening of Jen's new website, BeeBee Mod! It's a really cool shop! I made a wish list.  I'm just casually mentioning that just in case anyone is wanting to buy little E and me a present.  He He :)

Cue the Music!

Sometimes I get a little stuck.  I'm not sure why.  I guess it's my way of procrastinating. Some people get super productive in other areas of their lives in order to put off some task before them. Like baking a gazillion cookies or sewing or cleaning out the closets.  Not me, I just kinda shut down.  I just don't get anything done for a while.  Then at the last minute I kick into gear and everything seems to come together.  I've been getting stuck for as long as I can remember. When I was little I never imagined that I'd ever get stuck as an adult.  This is one of those traits that I assumed would just go away when I was magically transformed into a grown up.  Right along with biting my nails and being afraid of the basement.

I'm feeling like this the past couple of days.   We have a house that needs fixing.   We've had to send all the professionals packing, since we can't pay them anymore. The drywall guy came and picked up the rest of his tools last week. And Big E is already working his rear end off, literally:) I realized that a lot of what needs done isn't really that complicated and the supplies are pretty cheap.  So after some careful figuring, I've figured the one who should whip this place into shape is me.  Yep, it's time to become a better woman.  A girl with some skills.  Preferably carpentry skills. That's right!  I just need some skills and maybe some tools.  That's all I need.  Tools and skills.  Piece of cake:)

It hit me that if my life were a movie, which I often like to imagine that it is, than this is the scene where the music starts and you see clips of everything getting into shape. You know the athlete, the job, the relationship, in my case the house.  I think there's a name for this - montage maybe? 

So here I am thinking that this is my time to shine.  To rise up and get the job done.  I've even taken to wearing a bandanna.  Because I think if this is going to happen the more I can look like her   

the better.  (and also because I still haven't colored my hair)

So here I am.  Waiting.  Thinking.  Waiting.  What am I waiting for?   So here I am; stuck, again. 

Where's that music? 

Things to look forward to :)

Spring is here! It really felt like the onset of spring this morning when we left the house.  It was still pretty chilly but the sky was blue and the birds were singing. I don't remember a year that I've longed for spring more.  Needless to say this has put me in excellent spirits today.

Since I'm cameraless, I've been looking through all of our pictures hoping to find something I'd like to share for blog posts and I came across this sweet picture from last summer.  It's of my Es sitting on the front porch eating grapes that grew in our backyard.  Little E was crazy about the grapes and her daddy was crazy about picking them for her:)  This was their favorite pastime for much of the summer and early fall last year. 
I'm glad I came across this picture; I like having little things tucked away in my mind to look forward to.
So, here's to the long warm days of Summer! Have a wonderful first day of Spring everyone! 

All the King's horses and all the King's men...

Humpty Dumpty I feel your pain.  Putting back together is not easy.  Lots of phone calls and paper work and explaining the same story over and over and over again.  Lots of computer errors, glitches and snafus. And lots and lots of hearing this "Oh that's terrible! But there's anything we can do." and this "I don't have the authority to override this" and some more of this "I don't know who you should talk to; that's not my job" 

In fact I have been told possibly hundreds of times now that something is Not whoever I'm talking to's job.  And that they don't have the override or authority to do anything. And that they had the wrong information the last time they spoke to me which must have been due to some computer error. 

Pretty much it's no one's fault and no one knows how or why anything happens, other than everyone's deep seeded suspicions of a computer conspiracy of course.  And no one has the authority to correct anything.  So I ask you this- Where have all the responsibility and authority gone to? Does anyone know? They are MIA here so if you see any of those louts can you send them this way? :)

Fortunately, I know that everything will be put back together.  Sooner or later.  But I am starting to think it might be more towards the later end of things.

Here's another question for you. What type of tree is this?

I don't know much about trees, other than I know I love them:)  This is a tree from my neighborhood and I think it's very very pretty.  I'm in the middle of a little photo project with this tree. I've been taking pictures of this tree and was hoping to get pictures of it changing through the seasons.  I think I'll have to pick this up again next year but I would love to know what type of tree it is.  Here's another picture

Have a happy Wednesday everyone! 

This week has flown by and considering the kind of week it was that is something to be happy about. I really don't want to go into all the details. Well I kinda do but I don't think my blog is the right place for it.  It's all too frustrating and ugly.  Especially for this pretty little corner of the big wide blog world that we live in.  You know the Etsy, crafty, artsy neighborhood. It's probably best to save my venting for long phone calls to my BFFs and my mom:)  Fortunately we have our health and each other; that's something to be thankful for.  And all the frustrating problems of the week were, for the most part, of the short term variety; that's #2 on my 'things to be grateful for' list.
But I'll share my most recent mishap with you.  Today while at a lovely birthday party at the Holiday Inn my car was broken into and my bag was stolen.  This is sad and frustrating for many reasons. 
My wallet and checkbook were taken and my car no longer has a driver's side window. But the thing I'm probably the most upset about is that my camera and several of my notebooks were also stolen.  So no new photos for my blog or my Etsy shop until I get it replaced. Or of any of the other things I love taking pictures of.  And my notebooks and journals are not really replaceable.  Full of writings and scribbles and drawings and little stories.  It's so very sad.
Other things were taken too.  My Bible and all sorts of other things that I had in my bag.  It was a mommy bag after all.  Spare diapers, change of clothes for little E, a few little toys.  My makeup -
Space Monkey lip balm
Vincent Longo lip stain(which I loved!)
Smashbox blush
the best eye shadow ever!  I don't even know what kind it was because it was a gift from Korea and I couldn't read the label.
Several other things.  But those are the main ones I think.  Oh and my new fancy GPS machine that Big E bought me for Christmas.  I forgot about that.  So I made a funny joke while the police officer was taking the report and all the concerned people were standing around.(Everyone was so nice!)   I mean no one else got the joke but it cracked me up:)  The police officer was very nice and concerned and asked me if I would be able to get home OK.  So I said that I really didn't think so b/c afterall my navigation system was stolen so how would I be able to find my way. I still think it's funny. Seriously though, you could get really stupid using one of those.  The technology is amazing and the little lady tells you exactly where to go and where to turn and everything. I'm going to miss that little lady on my dashboard telling me how to drive.
So I think this next week will be all about putting everything back together. I hope that's what it's about.  And don't leave your bags in your cars.  Smash and grabs are no fun.