Happy Solstice!

Give your dad an extra hug for me...

The Kid will be making her calls later when the hour is more appropriate and the date matches.  We have a covert plan between us to surprise The Guy as well.

And I miss my dad.

Not a year goes by that I don't choke up a little because some part of me forgets and I get this urge to call him and tell him all about everything and wish him Happy Father's Day.  It's been a hard day for me to get on board with for years now.  I am actually choking up a bit right now as I am typing this.  Father's Day always falls right before the anniversary of his passing, so it's like a double sting.

I don't even have a picture to put up here of us together.  I have only two pictures total, and in one I was only four months old.

Be sure to give yours a call if you can.  A hug would be better if you are able.  Take pictures and share them.

And, Happy Father's Day, Daddy.  I miss you so much.

Yellow Belt!

The Kid took the test to earn her yellow belt today.  She has worked incredibly hard these past weeks and was over the moon that she was able to test before we leave for the States.  We have made arrangements for her to continue to study while she is in Missouri this summer.  She will get the actual belt and a certificate on Friday, which will be her last session with Master Kim until she comes back in August.

My apologies for the "Shaky-Cam".  With this medical nonsense plaguing me this past month I have had the shakes something fierce at times, and today was one of those times.  Also, the boy that is testing along side of her is kind of a goober, and isn't as disciplined, so he flails about when he should be paying attention, and I wasn't able to get a clear shot of Kid without him in it.

She has done incredibly well, and Master Kim has complimented her on the sticking of her forms, how they are mostly very clean and snappy, noting that some of his black belts get lazy and that she has made them look bad.  He also said that she is way too nice when sparring, so she needs to get a little more aggressive and be willing to kick other people, and defend herself more (so she doesn't take a crotch shot like she did here).

Regardless of all of that, we are pretty proud of her work, and wanted to share so that you could all be proud of her too!  Enjoy!

I tried to load this using blogger...but after hours of trying to upload it the video never loaded.  Wev.  You get YouTube.  

Anatomy of a Breakfast

Around this house we love oatmeal.  There is, however, a huge difference in the quick cook kind and the super yummy steel cut Irish Oatmeal, the latter being our favorite, and quite a bit better for you.  But it truly does take a long time to cook, so here is a big hint if you want to enjoy the best breakfast porridge* ever!

Soak it!

Measure out the oats and water the night before and leave it to soak over night at room temperature.  This shaves more than half an hour from the cooking time (and I have found from the clean up time, because it doesn't stick to the pot as badly since you don't have to cook it as long).  Don't worry if you make extra, because I have a solution for leftover oatmeal that I will share soon.

This time I also used a well pre-heated skillet and toasted some raw almonds.  After they cooled I put them in a re-sealable bag and crushed them with the bottom of a skillet.  I tossed those on top with some Craisins.  A little Silk soy milk and a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon and it was perfect!  Best breakfast ever!  I can't really back that up, as I tend to make some pretty mean breakfast creations...but it is definitely one of our favorites!

Also, two days ago our landlord brought us this beautiful box of hand made rice cakes to celebrate their baby's 100th day of life.  They were beautiful and tasty, with a sesame seed filling.  We really have a wonderful landlord, and are hoping to repay his kindness as soon as we have out home unpacked and cleaned.  Maybe I will learn how to make these while we are here!

Malama Pono!

I have the best family!

I have been extremely ill lately, and it has been trying with all of the things we have going on right now.  It has put off our trip to the States by about a week, and has severely hampered my ability to get more unpacking done, let alone keep up with the day to day of cleaning our place from just living in it.  Occasionally I am hit with a day of feeling decent, and we are trying to use that time to get out and enjoy Korea and friends before The Kid goes to the States for the remainder of the summer.

I do, however have the best family, because when The Guy is home he and The Kid have happily picked up the slack of having me all but incapacitated, and did a bunch of much needed cleaning.  I am so lucky and truly blessed to have a husband who not only doesn't mind, but sees it as just as much his job to help out around the house.  This includes getting things done when I can't.

While I have been able to find energy and have had bits of time where I can putter around putting things away they have kept up with long overdue chores.  Kid happily jumped in to help him scrub the bathroom floors and toilets, and did the sinks all by herself (which we leave for her regular weekly chores, because she is really bad at rinsing her toothpaste out of them daily).  I don't think I have ever mentioned how much I love our Korean bathrooms, because the door way is raised about four to six inches and the shower wall is elevated, which allows the water to run all over the floor.  It makes cleaning easy, because all we have to do is use the shower head to spray it down, and we don't have to worry about water spilling onto the wood floors of the rest of the house.  You just have to scrub and work the water back to the drain.  Who knew Kid would love scrubbing floors so much (or being sprayed with the shower while she was doing it)!

Thanks, you two!  Things are starting to fall into place here, and now that we have our stuff it is starting to look like not only a home, but our home.

Hand Fasted and Heart Joined

Happy Anniversary, Love!

Things I Love

Thunderstorms.

It is a little after 1500 and it looks like late evening.

It takes me back to summers on the lake at Grammy's when the lake would get so calm that it looked like glass just before a big knife of lightening would slash open the purple sky and the rain would come pouring down.

I hear the rainy season is coming early this year.  I haven't seen a good thunderstorm in about 4-5 years.

Bring it.  :)