Just to be close for a moment

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Good News...

While slightly less ceremonious than the occasion of April's third-born, upon a final inspection of to raze our 'farm' it came as a shock to discover 15 heads of cabbage had miraculously survived and actually grown! Two heads were much smaller and Jihye suggested we pluck those, dry them, and use for other stews...although we tied and bound the other 13 larger ones to shape them in order to get proper kimchi making leaves. We're hoping to harvest in perhaps two weeks as Jihye's mother will be visiting again and we may try to have a small kimchi making weekend together with her. Niether Jihye nor obviously myself have made kimchi by hand, it would be nice to have some experienced guidance leading the way. So..one successful birth down...April...you're up...

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Halloween 2010

Randy and April's carved pumpkins.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Battle for Heat

As loyal readers of this family blog may recall...last winter I moved into my new apartment and immediately faced daunting heating bills. According to everyone, the heating costs in my building are exorbitant, the owners of the bread shop on the first floor implored me to buy some form of a stand heater. So..I posted last March when I bought the $100 floor stand heater, although that was too late to make much of a dent in my bills for the '09-'10 winter season. In fact, I had turned off my expensive floor heating system as of mid-February last year and was suffering in silence.

Fast forward to this year...and I have been anxiously waiting 10+ months to attack the heating bills this time around. I have the floor stand heater, and my recently purchased goose down bedding and other assorted warm blankets. I will also add one last item to my arsenal, a separating curtain (think dramatic stage curtain, something thick and velvety) in between the main living room and the kitchen and spare room, hopefully in order to maximize the effectiveness of the stand heater. The temperature dropped to 1 degree Celcius last week, so it is well time to get things started.

For those keeping score at home, here are the monthly totals for last year. (I'm not sure what units of measurement they are using, nor am I positive the source of the heat, be it oil, gas, or something else.) All I know is that it is too expensive, and I do not aim to spend $400+ per month for it.

Oct. '09 - 20 units of heat ...............................Oct. '10 - 0 units of heat
Nov. '09 - 155 units of heat
Dec. '09 - 116 units of heat
Jan. '10 - 73 units of heat
Feb. '10 - 35 units of heat
March '10 - 0 units of heat

Updates to appear monthly...