The Chattanooga Farmer's Market

On Sundays after church, we have been going to the Farmer's Market downtown. Even though it has been very rainy, many people still make it there because it is so fun, and also, there is a roof on the pavilion where it is held.


It is not only a farmer's market, but also a craft show, and there's food and usually live music, too.




The last time we went, I had a delicious steak taco.




Then I went and got one of these potato chip things. Very decadent, also very delicious.



The veggies are always beautiful and tempting.






But maybe it's weird to have a bell pepper match one's dress.



More temptation.

On this day, we only bought some apples and tomatoes. The tomatoes will be made into a delicious fresh soup, and the apples?



They were used appropriately.

Our Ikea Trip

Yesterday my hubby and I drove down to Atlanta to go to the Ikea I have visited twice with my sister. We got up early and, expecting the drive to take 2 hours, left at 7:30 so we could be there when the restaurant opens at 9:30 We love eating breakfast at Ikea. The trip only took 1 1/2 hours, tho! So we drove around Marietta for a bit; my husband lived there for a time before we met. He showed me the giant chicken at the KFC there and I took a picture on my phone. I don't know how to get those pictures onto the computer yet. But, luckily, a Google image search turned up this:




The beak opens and closes and the eyeballs rotate. Totally funny.

Some of the things we got there were:



New bedding! This pattern has a completely forgettable name - I don't speak Swedish! But I have loved it for a while. I was happy to note that the fabric is a bit softer and smoother than many of their duvet covers. Anyway, we love it.





And I got some of these tumblers. I left all my drinking glasses in Singapore, and altho I inherited some decent stemmed glasses, the bowl was just too small to have a big drink from. These are good for me because I am notoriously clumsly, and they are hard to break.




This was completely unnecessary. But it was ORANGE, and so my husband just put it on our cart. It was in the As-Is, and the stain is a bit wimpy. Methinks it will get painted, but probably not orange.

We got a bunch of other little things, not very interesting to post. And as we were checking out, I turned around and said to my husband, "I don't feel really good at all." It felt like flu, but today I feel pretty good, so maybe not. Then we just headed home and I went to bed. Today was a better day and now I am going to make some yummy food which I will blog about tomorrow.

Greetings from Chattanooga

Why doncha sit a spell?

We finally unpacked the cord that will allow me to download some pictures, so why don't I show you around?

Here's our new home.

Of course, I'm kidding. These are pictures taken nearby, of Audubon Acres. It's a wildlife park we visited, and it's close enough to go all the time, if one wanted to do that.

Here's a more accurate picture of what we've been living with.




But, who wants to look at boxes? We sure don't, so we've been finding lots of excuses to get out of the house when we can. Lacking furniture and storage solutions, we've found lots of excuses to go out. Today will be more unpacking, and tomorrow will be more going out.

My daughter seems to be finding her way in high school. She attends Ooltewah High School (pronounced Oo-de--wah) as a freshman, and aside from having to get up at 5 am (ouch!), she seems pretty happy.

My husband and I have put out lots of applications and resumes, and will keep doing that, but so far we haven't found jobs. At this particular moment in time, I'm not very worried. At other moments, I find myself quite anxious. But really, after all we've been through in the past four years, living in Singapore and all that attended that life, I don't feel like I have any right to worry. I have been taken care of and will continue to be taken care of, and that's all I need to know.

But your prayers are appreciated.

The past couple of days have been rainy and cool. I'm sure you know how happy that makes me feel. I'm currently sitting in my living room with the sliding glass door open, quite comfortable. It's stop raining for the moment, but the sky is grey, so we may get more rain.

Here are some pictures I took on our recent hike at Audubon Acres.



Not sure what kind of flower this is, but it was hiding in the grass.




Isn't this inviting? One of the things I really missed when I was living in Singapore was going for a walk in the woods. Of course you can walk in the woods in Singapore, if you like sweating. It's so humid there. It was humid in these woods, too, but not nearly as bad.




I forget what creek this bridge spans; I think it's the Chickamauga. I can't get my mouth to say that word correctly.



Everybody needs friends, right?



And speaking of friends, these two trees struck me with their closeness yet obvious difference in their bark. I'm aiming at some profound statement about unity in diversity here, but I'm not quite making it.






Tomorrow my sister is coming down and we are having A Day. Hopefully we will both remember to take lots of pictures so we both have something to blog about.

Girl's Day Out

Yesterday, I took my daughter to a newly-opened mall. There isn't much to do in Singapore if you want to stay out of the weather but go to the malls, and they are always opening new ones.
Well, this mall had a little kiosk called The Frosting Room. They sell cakes and cookies and pastries, all beautifully frosted. And they also sell cakes that you can frost yourself. They set you up with a little lazy susan to work on, and give you several colors and dried frosting flowers and let you go.
I suggested to my daughter that she might want to spend part of her birthday doing this with her friends, and idea she readily cottoned onto, but there was no special occasion for today's cake, so she just played around.




The frosting is a whipped cream frosting, and the brown is chocolate. The cake is vanilla, three layers, with fruit in one layer - red dyed pineapple and mandarin oranges. It was really very delicious and not gooey at all. Unfortunately, the cake is frozen when they give it to you, so you can't eat it right away.



We sat in Starbucks and snuck a couple of pieces - they really don't like you bringing outside food into the restaurants here, but we had to have a taste. It was a fun thing to do!

Cute Attack

Last week my daughter had a dream about baby rabbits. She woke up enthralled with their cuteness and described one to me. She held her hand out, palm up, and petted an imaginary bunny sitting on her palm. My imagination worked perfectly to fill in the blank.



I had to wait a few days as I was all out of grey mohair yarn. But the other day while shopping for a blouse and necklace, I was at Holland Village where the yarn store is, so I just popped in and bought a skein.



For days after my daughter's dream, we would hold our hands up and pet the imaginary bunny there and squeal to each other.



So when she got home from school yesterday, I asked her to hold out her hand and then I placed the bunny on it. She decided his name was Stuart. She never names her pets/toys with pet or toy names.

Needless to say, she loves it.

And now onto other things: Blogger has been a real trial for a few days, but I'm so happy that I can finally get pictures posted this morning. Lately many Google related sites have been giving us problems, but hopefully things are going to improve.

And lastly, I am happy to report that Fizzy Pink Lemonade has sold. Hooray! I would post a picture here to remind you, but suddenly, I can't get any pictures to post. Sigh. So much for technology. I will try again tomorrow.

More of England

On Sunday morning, we went to church with our host. Since he needed to be at church early, however, we decided to take a short walk and visit Ben. Big Ben, that is.




I didn't think to turn on the video recorder on my camera until almost too late.

We were also at Westminster Abbey that morning.



You can't tell from these pictures, but this was the day we discovered we hadn't brought warm enough clothes. It rained so much while we were there, and it was cold. But no matter, they sell warm clothes in England (funnily enough), and so after church we went to Oxford Circus and did some shopping.

I bought this red hooded sweatshirt with LONDON on the chest. It was really warm and kept me mostly dry. But you'll have to wait to hear about where this picture was taken!

Glory got this fleece jacket and two scarves - the pink one and a green one. Everybody in England wears scarves - even in July, so she fit right in. These gardens are near Buckingham Palace.

After the shopping spree, we rode the underground to the British Library. They don't allow pictures, so I'll just tell you that we saw books written by Jane Austen and William Shakespeare, several illuminated manuscripts, the Magna Carta, and a copy of the Lindisfarne Gospel. We only had a half hour to run through there, but it was thrilling.

Later we had a yucky pizza (only Chicago has good pizzas, it would seem) and went back to our hosts' home. Monday would see us leaving London for a trip to the countryside.

Trip to Ikea

Monday was Go To Ikea Day. Since this takes over an hour on the bus, we don't make the trip frivolously. Nor spontaneously. My main objective was a new laundry drying rack, as you will see, but I also got a trash can for my living room, a tree for my daughter to hang her necklaces on, some trivets which will be covered in fabric and mounted to the wall in my daughter's room so she can use pushpins to put up stuff, and some light bulbs. We also met with Dad to have lunch together.



This is my old drying rack. It's sufficient, but it wont fit on my little balcony. So, we have to look at drying clothes in my dining room, which can be uncomfortable for my daughter's 14 year old friend-who-is-a-boy. Also, it's a little cramped in there!



Here is the new one. Taadaa! It is about 2 feet square and 5 feet tall, and is adjustable as far as the shelves go. It holds tons of laundry, and best of all - it can sit outside and be out of the way.


Here are the before and after shots of the cork trivets turned into a decorative item for a teenage girl's room.









This is the tree I mentioned for displaying necklaces. It's not necessarily sold for that purpose, but what do we care? It works.



We had to hire a 7-seater taxi to get us home since the drying rack was so big. But it only cost us half of what having Ikea deliver it would have cost, plus we didn't have to wait.

Isn't Ikea the best?

Organization, Part 36

Hanging Storage System for My Fabric

For my fused fabric, that is.  Previously, all this fabric was in a bin that wasn't wide enough.  Well, it was just a mess.  I saw this solution on my sister's blog, and then I saw it in person and really liked it.  So, when I went to Howard's Storage on Friday (I think it's at a mall called Parkway Parade - on the east coast), I knew I had to keep my eyes peeled for one of these.  It's actually for shoes, and it's got the pockets on the back, too.  But I didn't need to use those.  

So, this is perfect, and I can see all my fabrics so I don't have to dig in a bin.  Woohoo!

A Day Out for Girls

Yesterday, I went downtown with my daughter. We went to Fantastic Sams (too busy to get my haircut - wait until Monday),

Borders (she finished spending her gift card: Persuasion by Jane Austin), ate lunch,

and then we went to see Juno. Great movie!

We had to wait a while for the movie to start after we bought our tickets, so we went into another book store and I bought Mr. Darcy's Diary by Maya Slater. Based, of course, on the character in Pride and Predjudice.

We had wonderful conversations and lots of bonding time. It was great.

New Napkins!

I saw a tutorial somewhere online before Christmas and thought I would make some cloth napkins for my sister. Unfortunately, I ran out of time. But I still wanted to make some cloth napkins, and since my sister already had some, I decided to make some for my family.
I found this fabric for $3 a meter and although it's a little patriotic, I decided I liked it enough. So I whipped these up in no time and we are now using them at every dinner.

Small Things

It's the little things that make a big difference, sometimes. My friend, Janis, mentioned to me that she had heard this great idea: get a mouse pad to put under the accelerator (because I forgot what it's actually called) of your sewing machine to keep it from slipping around.
Well, you and I both know how easy it is to go down to Staples and just pick one up, $2. But I don't live in the states. Singapore doesn't have any Staples. But I wont go on and on about that.
I found this rubber pad, intended to keep things from sliding around or off your dashboard, and thought it would work great.
And it does! Not only is my pedal stationary, but it seems the sewing machine runs smoother. Probably all in my head, but there it is.

Organization!

The closet in my studio, before

And after, phew!

Here is what I threw away.







And here is my favorite part: my wonderunder is stored on the closet bar, making it really easy to unroll just as much as I need.
Taadaa!



Now please don't judge this messy closet as pack-rattishness. It's not that. It's just that we are living in what we know to be a temporary situation, and it's so hard to buy furniture (like shelves for the closet) when we know we will just be leaving them behind. But I bought the two bins knowing my stuff could be moved in the bins and I won't have to leave those behind. The shelf came from my daughter's room - she didn't need it anymore. So there you go.

Got Our Stuff Back!

Well, after our luggage went missing for two days, it was returned to us. And nothing was missing or broken. And I unpacked all over the living room.
Man, what a lot of stuff!

Getting Into A Routine

Well, unfortunately, I can't seem to load any photos to Blogger today.  But, let me tell you why I'm thankful anyway.

Yesterday I did the grocery shopping.  This is something that has become routine for me, living in Singapore.  I know just what bus to catch and where to get off and how to get the groceries home (taxi) and it's all pretty uncomplicated.

Unfortunately, without notice, things that seem easy can change at the merest whim in Singapore.  And being jetlagged, I was not prepared for things to go haywire.

And, they didn't.  I was able to do the shopping like a million times before, got every item on my list (except for one thing, can't remember what now...).  I came home and put all the groceries away and felt so content.  And really pleased because I have started the diet, and I have all the food I can eat on that diet.  It's a good feeling.

Good Deals

We went to the largest resale shop I've ever seen yesterday and had very good luck. All of these pieces, plus some shoes for my daughter, and it all cost just over $65. Many of these items are designer labels, and I have two new pairs of black jeans that fit! I love buying jeans that are pre-owned because I don't have to work the stiffness out of them. And who doesn't love new clothes?