Sui-Mai

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day here in Oregon. Nick and I spent it cleaning out the chicken stall, finishing the greenhouse (don't even ask what a pain that was!) and working the soil in the raised beds.

Today it rained. For a little indoor fun we decided to make some Sui-Mai. I am a huge dumpling fan, no matter what the variety. I am also a terrible baker which is why I do have never made dumplings before. It is too much like working with Phylo dough which has always left me disappointed in the past.

This time would be different! I found a great recipe in Cooking Light magazine for steamed vegetable sui-mai dumplings with chili-sesame oil.

We made a couple of substitutions - boy choy instead of cabbage and added in some shrimp. They were delicious! Here is an action shot of Nick serving up the yummy goodness:


And a close up:

Rainy Day Project

Some couples play board games, we like to build greenhouses! Nick has arranged for a greenhouse labor trade where we build a new greenhouse for someone and they will give us their old one. We are super stoked to have a greenhouse so we got to work!

Here are a few shots of the frame in progress:
Skeleton:

Ends on:

Shelves in:


Next up we will have to do the exterior. I will keep you posted. As I was taking that last picture I broke Nick's camera so it may be a bit before I can post pics.

Cars!

Now something for the dudes! Nick has been helping a friend do some spring cleaning on his property and part of that is getting rid of some old cars. Nick photographed everything and posted them to Craigslist (1 has already sold). Definitely for someone serious about a fixer upper but some very cool old autos for sure:


Check out those suicide doors!

And in this corner at 28 weeks....

It is hard to believe that I have been pregnant for 7 months now! I am sure these final 3 will be gone before I know it.

My belly has definitely been on the grow. I am constantly snagging it on things now: trying to squeeze between the cars in the garage, leaning over the sink to wash my hands... All of my light colored sweaters have a belly grub line where I apparently am rubbing it on things all day long.

I had my glucose tolerance test yesterday so hopefully the results will be normal. That flat orange soda is DELICIOUS and I would not want to have to do the 3 hour repeat.

Here are some pics:

Nick London Art featured on HGTV Blog!

Design Happiness featured Nick's white on white ceramic sconce:

Save The Date!

Great news - Nick has confirmed a show at Garbageman Astronaut in downtown Portland for October's First Thursday event. It will be a two man show October 7th so come on out!

New Etsy Items

Nick finally got a chance to photograph and post new items to Etsy. Check it out and tell your friends!

Whirlwind

Life is in full fast forward as we race toward Gunnar's arrival (90 days to go in case you are counting) and I have become rather post delinquent. So here is the latest..

It was a week FULL of appointments in addition to it just being a horrendously busy work week. I kicked off the fun with a dentist appointment. I am sure that to most people dentist appointments are not a big deal. By contrast, I HATE GOING TO THE DENTIST. It is a loooong story but I have had my share of teeth and dentist drama so I'm a bit curette shy (yes that is a dental tool joke). Any whoo, after once again being disappointed in a dentist I made a yet another switch. There may only be 1 spot to buy groceries in Welches OR but by golly there also happens to be a dental office. A REALLY nice dental office. I went to McKenzie dental and they were wonderful! Got my choppers cleaned and a clean bill of dental health. Woohoo. Great staff and Dr Brad was very nice (although I swear he may be younger than ME). Highly recommend them if you happen to live in the area. Or say, knock your teeth out at Meadows.

Next on the agenda was our first birthing class. Since I want to take advantage of the water birth tub at OHSU I had to take this class. It was very informative. Nick went with me and even survived his first birthing video. I'll just put it this way - it was one heck of a video! Really amazing story of a South American midwife and her own home water birth. She pretty much delivers the baby herself, with only her husband to catch the baby. I had to warn Nick that I will be needing MUCH more help than that!

To wrap up the week I had my Centering appointment. All is well. I got to hear Gunnar's heartbeat and we discussed fear of childbirth. I really do love my centering meetings. It is so great to hear the perspectives of other women. Great discussions. On the baby note, I also finally found a La Leche League chapter with evening meetings. Of course it is in the least convenient section of Portland for me to access but I know it will be well worth it.

Yesterday we went for our second section of acupuncture. Nick has some severe shoulder and heel pain that was worked on. For me the acupuncturist got more serious about my blood pressure. We are both enjoying it and continue to go.

Nick has been very busy in the studio. Brightwood is celebrating 100 years in May and he is working on some commemorative pieces to sell. One piece is a relief tile of an image in the Birghtwood Tavern (basically Brightwood's Town Hall). The image is a logger mid cut through an ENORMOUS tree. The picture hangs next to the patio door and is very impressive. Nick's tile more than does it justice and here it is in its current state:

There will be more Brightwood pieces to come so stay tuned.