And then I taught her to hoop

Alphabet Hoops is coming to Hewlett-Packard

There's a Hooping Basics class at Hewlett-Packard's Alpharetta (Georgia) office this coming Monday. And I'm teaching it! I'm super-excited about introducing hooping to a bunch of people in the tech industry. Well. I'm happy to teach pretty much anyone how to hula hoop, but it will be fun to combine my Day Job with my hooping passion, if only for an hour or two.

To spread the word about my class, I created a flyer for the office's events coordinator, to which she added a note that "There will be a prize for best hula hooper!" (In the image above, it's the angled text at the top left of my Playing a Round flyer.)

And then I introduced her to adult-sized hula hoops.

She almost instantly realized that at Monday's hoop class, it's very likely that everyone will be good at hooping. She will need a big supply of prizes...

Today I want to: Make paper

Source: Amazon.com

I drive a long way to and from my (awesome) regular job. To pass the time, I sometimes listen to audio books. Right now I'm in the middle of Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes, one of the books in the extremely popular Outlander series. In this morning's "reading," one of the characters discussed her paper-making process.

And just like that, I suddenly want to make paper. (My boys would enjoy working with the mushy pulp, I think!)

Side note: This post's image is of handmade paper cut into hearts. The text says "Forever," but this writer first saw it as "Lorene." Our personal stories most certainly affect our perceptions.

Banana bread + chocolate = Heaven

Photo credit: www.TheLiveInKitchen.com 

 

This morning, I invented chocolate-covered banana bread cubes...

Of course, a quick search of the 'net revealed that I am not the first to think of that tempting combination (because no thought is an original, n'est-ce pas?). For the chocolate coating, this combination of dark chocolate and coconut oil looks promising. I'm pretty sure my kids will  look at me with over-the-top adoring eyes when I serve this form of banana bread to them.

Side note: Do you like chocolate coating on your ice cream? I do, but I don't like the hydrogenated oil that most of the store-bought versions contain. It turns out, though, that you CAN MAKE AN ALL-NATURAL CHOCOLATE COATING!!!! And just as for the banana bread cube coating, the key to a homemade "Magic Shell" recipe is coconut oil.

Love rice? Hate the calories?

Credit: Yuji Kotani / Photodisc / Getty Images

I'm barely managing to make scrambled eggs chez moi, but if you REALLY love rice and are motivated to reduce its caloric content, here ya go. Apparently, "scientists have discovered a simple way to cook rice that dramatically cuts the calories." It's actually a simple process, you just have to plan ahead since there's 12 hours of refrigeration required.

I've been using my seam ripper incorrectly my entire life

Nostalgia is bittersweet

My mother and I have a yearly tradition of dining on Vietnamese noodle soup after we finish our taxes. This year we were unexpectedly treated to a Lion Dance. The spectacle brought to mind childhood memories which made my heart ache and my mother weep. Ahhhh, the paths we have chosen and the many lives we have lived.

Product development, 2014, challenges, and 2015

We're still in product-development phase for The Felted Fox.

2014 was exhausting. As evidenced by there only being one post on my blog last year. One.

Last year I learned that it's really, really, really difficult to create products whilst working a full-time job, volunteering at church and school, and raising kids. Amongst other significant tasks and responsibilities which I won't bother listing. In 2015, I will attempt to make things to share despite all my other time-commitments. And interests. (Did you see the over-sized pom-pom wreath that I made over the holidays?) Perhaps a production schedule is in order?