Browse Category: projects

Little Janie

In an effort to keep beakatude.com from becoming a baby blog, I created a separate site for all the baby photos I’ve been taking.  I’ve been pressed to send daily photos to the grandparents so this takes care of that need too.  We also didn’t need Jes’ parents to know about all our happy hours and the fatty foods that we consume on a regular basis.  So, here’s the link to Miss Kumquat’s very own photo blog: littlejanie.tumblr.com.  Why that url?  Well, it’s simply because kayleejane was taken already…bah!

But don’t get me wrong!  I’m still a proud mama so there will still be photos of Kumquat on this site too…just not as many. 😉

*****UPDATE** LittleJanie has moved to littlejanie.org  **UPDATE*****

Life Without Cable

Back in January, we canceled our cable service.  It’s a little experiment that Jes has wanted to try for quite some time and so far it hasn’t been that bad.  I’ve always been the type of person who liked to turn the TV on for background noise so that was probably the only thing I had to get used to.  The silence in the house is really weird.  Not only do we have the TV off most of the day but the constant hum of the cable box is also missing.  Now I can hear everything that that goes on in the house and outside.  The neighbors upstairs walking in their shoes, the shower running in the next unit, and the occasional dump of ice in our freezer are new sounds that I didn’t know existed before.

So, how have I been keeping up with my favorite TV shows?  Well, first of all, we have AppleTV.  I buy all the episodes I want to watch at about $2.99 per episode.  If I want an entire season, it ranges between $30-60 depending on its popularity and demand.  Since we started this mid-season, the only full seasons that I’ve purchased are those that started after January: “Top Chef” and “MadMen”.  All others I’ve been just downloading individually.  It seems like a lot of money initially but our cable bill was almost $90/month.  We also have Netflix Streaming (under $10/month) and it plays on our TV as well.  We play both movies and old seasons of “How I Met Your Mother”, “Futurama”, “MadMen”, and “Arrested Development”.

I also use the free account on Hulu.  It’s useful for watching current network TV shows but you have to watch on your computer.  It’s the paid account, Hulu+, that allows you to stream to your TV but we have enough computers in the house that one can be used for watching shows while another is used for surfing at the same time.  Each show is on for about 8 days after the initial showing so if you have been keeping up, it’s actually a really inexpensive way to watch some of your favorites. I started watching the new season of “Dancing with the Stars” and some Food Network shows like “Giada at Home” and “Good Eats”.  Just yesterday, I got back into watching an old favorite of mine: “Days of Our Lives”.  Heh heh.  The farthest back episode aired on March 12th so I’ve got about 2 weeks of catching up to do, which is easy when you have an afternoon of nothing to do.  Yesterday, I watched 3 in a row while I tidied up the house.  What fun! I like this option for watching shows that aren’t really worth $2.99.

Now, the only bummer is that I haven’t been able to watch any sports or specials like the Academy Awards at home.  So, I’ve had to rely on my friend the Internet for tracking March Madness and how the Lakers are doing.  You can, however, buy a season pass for all the major sports teams.  I can’t remember how much a season costs but I know it’s an option.  I may also need to figure out how I’m going to watch the Summer Olympics.  I’m a sucker for the Olympics.

And what about the local news?  Well, I wasn’t much of a news watcher in the first place but the other day I discovered that there’s a live feed of the morning news on KTVU.com.  It’s just like watching the TV only it’s on your computer with the up-to-the-minute weather and traffic report.  Nice!

So there you have it.  I haven’t actually done the math to see if we’re spending more or less on television but it’s definitely given me a new perspective on my TV-watching habits.  Let’s just see what happens when my mom stays here with us for a month.  This roundabout way of watching TV might drive her nuts.

4 more months to go!

Today I’m officially 5 months pregnant and entering Week 23.  In four months, I’ll be experiencing the worst pain and hopefully the best joy of my life.  Until then, I’m just trying to stay healthy and strong.

Yesterday, I did a little Christmas shopping and found myself in the maternity section at Gap once again for their 40%-off-everything sale.  I picked up four more tops for all ranging from $7-9 each.  Woot!  Also, while I was in the dressing room, I got a long hard look at myself in the mirror.  We don’t have a full-length mirror at home so this was pretty eye-opening for me.  I think in the past 2 weeks, I’ve felt more preggo than ever and the mirror confirmed it.  No wonder I’m having a hard time zipping up my jackets lately.  *sigh*

Not only has my mid-section changed but my joints are feeling really loose.  I get the occasional hip pain at work but just the other day at work, I was trying to get up from a bench when my hip flexor went into a super spasm.  I couldn’t move and it left me in tears until it was able to relax.  Luckily I’m surrounded by a great group of therapists who knew how to help me get through it.

Today I spent the morning purging some of my stuff.  I feel most proud of was getting rid of 3 years worth of magazines.  Next job will be to purge some of my clothes.  It’s all to make room for Kumquat and her stuff.  Once it’s all cleared out, the nesting can begin!

An Evening of Aloha

I’ve been going to hula every Thursday (and sometimes Saturday) since May and all the practice has led up to my first Ho’ike last night.  The day started out really early…7:30 am to be precise.  I had to have my make-up and hair done bright and early and then helped out with set-up of the whole thing.  It was a warm sunny day and it was pretty warm in the gym.  The doors opened at 2 pm and there was quite a bit of entertainment before and during dinner including a Taiko group and Polynesian performers as well.  We began performing around 5 pm as the guests finished their luau dinner, which was complete with kalua pork, mac salad, and poi.

Michelle brought Jack to the show and I think he was a little confused to see me.  With so much make-up on, I wouldn’t blame him.

I performed in 3 dances that evening and luckily most of my dresses still fit.  This is the more traditional costume that was used for the hula kahiko portion.  It’s not the most flattering outfit but certainly hides an emerging baby bump.

This is me in one of the hula ‘auana.  I can’t believe this dress actually still fit.  Kumquat was officially 15 weeks old that morning and decided that this would be the day he/she would make my belly stick out a little.

The little girls were also so cute in their outfits.  I’m surprised at how they were able to withstand such a long day of getting their hair done, waiting around, lining up, and being on their best behavior.

Here’s the group photo that we all took together.  There are a lot of us!  It was a really fun day and evening of ohana and aloha.  I’m so glad that I was a part of it.

Here are the photos from the event.

I still rule.

On July 26th, I plucked all the basil leaves off this stem when I made some pesto.  The next day, I put the stem into a bottle of water and a week later it grew roots.

Today, i checked it again and it had a ton of roots and some bigger leaves in addition to some new ones budding.  So, I gave it a new home in a self-watering pot that I bought yesterday at Home Depot.  Let’s see how long it lasts.

Peach Dessert

Today we had dinner at Ryan and Michelle’s and they asked for one of us to make a peach dessert.  I stepped up to the plate and gave it a try with a Fresh Peach Cobbler recipe that I found online.  It was pretty easy and it sounded like it was pretty good for my first attempt.

Here’s what I did:

I bought fresh peaches (about 4) and sliced them.  I left the skin on.

Then I melted butter in a dutch oven while measuring out flour, sugar, baking powder, and milk.  Once that batter was mixed, it went right over the butter without any stirring.

In the meantime, I had the peaches, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest, and lemon juice in another pot for everything to melt and carmelize.

Once that was ready, the entire peach mixture got poured right over the butter+flour mixture – again, without stirring.

Then it went straight into a 375-degree oven for 45 minutes and DING!  It was done!  The batter rose and covered up the peaches all by itself!

I served it with vanilla bean ice cream and we had a tasty dessert!  This was the end of the pot so my crust looked a little messed up here.  It actually turned out crispy, chewy, and soft all at once.  I’d make this again.