Nessa and the Rats

Lucky stuff

Wendy directed the arrangement of the decorations. The one on the door means "good luck," but you attach it upside down, so the luck will "pour into your house."

Shopping for Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year decorations will be a first in our neighborhood!

Rats!

Maggie and Siannan. Posey was on my shoulder.

You (not so) dirty rat!

These little critters are too cute!

Bracelets

Wendy's found a new store - "Black Market Minerals." She shops there for sometimes 45 minutes to an hour, picking out just the right beads and stones. Then she comes home and assembles them. Very nice!

Crafty!

Note the cute pink toolkit - being put to good use!

Home Hotpot/Steamboat/Shabu Shabu

One of Wendy's favorite things is "steamboat." Also known as hot pot or shabu shabu.

You have a pot of soup, sometimes split in two to separate spicy and mild. It sits on either a small gas stove or an induction heater in the middle of the restaurant, and you dip/dunk/submerge raw foods into the boiling broth, then take it out, dip it in sauces, and eat it. It takes well over an hour to eat a typical meal, so a lot of socializing can take place. Definitely not fast food.

There's a local place that does a steamboat buffet, but it's almost $12 per person, plus we've received some bad service there. Wendy decided to try a DIY in-house steamboat, using out camping stove. We bought all the stuff, including beef, pork, chicken, prawns, clams, tofu, tarot, chrysanthemum, baby spinach, noodles, salmon, and spices. Total consumed was about $14 with the cost of the gas, and it was delicious! Easily the best steamboat I've ever had, and when you're around Wendy, you have a LOT of steamboat!

Yummeh, yummeh, tasteh fewd. Mah fewd wuz yummeh, an itwaz tasteh, an mah tummeh is vereh vereh fewl.

GO, GREG, GO!!!!!!

Today my brand new Whirlpool Gold dishwasher came. I installed it in less than 1/2 hour, ran an empty load through it to rinse it and check for leaks, and loaded it with dishes for it's inaugural cycle.

I named it Greg.

Greg's still running as I type this. I left some pretty nasty half rinsed plates in there. We'll see if Greg's worth his salt in just a few short minutes...

UPDATE: 1/11/09 - Greg rawks! He's quiet, polite, efficient, and he gets ALL the dishes spotess clean - even pots and pans. In fact, Greg's about to start a new load right now. Welcome to the family, Greg. We love you already.

Braided

Gig loves to play with my hair. It feels nice. hehe!

This is more like what I'm used to.

Kid A, in Normal (Seething Hatred) Mode.