Time Off Blogging

Apologies to all,

I haven't got the time to post new updates lately due to an end of year research work I am involved in.  Hopefully after the holiday season I could share with you all the interesting bits to come.

Wishing all of you a great X-Mas and New Year 2011, have a blast with your family and friends and have a safe one :)

XOXOXOXO,
Nuning

My Old Singer Resurrection Project (Part III)

Oh, bummer!  

I had been lagging in my posts lately, so many things happening around here that almost made my head spin! (but not like Linda Blair in Exorcist III, I assure you).

I edited and republished two of my posts from this blog, entitled 'Our Dear Pets' & 'Buffalo Shower at Mekarsari (Hold the Soap!)' in a Wikinut website. I had to admit that it was quite a new experience - I met  lots of professional writers from all over the world whom I received wonderful insights, useful guides on how to write great articles, and many more. 

one of my published work @ wikinut

And there was also this end of semester exams for my older children, DOUBLE BUMMER ...

Fortunately for me, the kids had all went to sleep, so I got a few hours of my needed peace n' quiet, just perfect for winding down and write. With my ever present mug of hot cappucinno, soft music playing in the background, I let my fingers to dance on the keyboard. What bliss.

The Big Day

At last, Mr. Fixit arrived with my Singer cradled on his motorbike.  Oh, goody, goody!  I couldn't be more happier.  I quickly let him in to reinstall the machine onto its cabinet.  And while working, he showed me the parts which he had replaced at his shop before.  Here they are:

The pineapple gear (don't know which part resembled a pineapple!)

the old 'pineapple' gear

The motor drive belt

old motor drive belt - crumbled at a touch

sturdy new belt

The 20 years old black gear belt (which could have easily snapped on my first attempt to reuse it).

pic of the new gear belt

And finally, just finally, the machine is back to where it belong, back in the house, all 'rejuvenated' and ready to rock n roll!

SWEET!!

Dropped me 'da bomb'! Uh oh.

'Would you like to give it a try, Ma'am?", the guy asked .. [and received a completely blank stare that certainly made me looked so stupid] ...  But then, he must have remembered that I sit at the very bottom of the 'sewing chain', so he quickly whisked a spool of maroon colored thread from his bag pocket and deftly showed me how to do it.  (Pheww, that was awkward!)

he forgot to take this off - finders keepers! lol!

After showing me not once, but twice on how to feed the thread, he proceeded and sew a straight line on a piece of blue cotton scrap cloth. Hearing the 'thudda thudda thudda' sound made my heart to go pitter patter.  I felt so happy it worked again so I continued to pay more attention and absorbed as much information from him. He showed me how to refill the small thread spool, set the different pattern width, replace the needle, and so on. All the while, I had a picture of me fixing my children's clothes, making useful things for the house (i.e. cover for my hubby's electronic piano/keyboard, runner for the dining table, sofa pillow cases, and many more!)  Ooh, so exciting!

Mr.Fixit stayed only for 25 minutes as he had another machine to deliver.  After paying his well deserved fee and a tip, I saw him off and quickly went inside again .. to celebrate the homecoming of an old friend :)

My Old Singer Resurrection Project (Part II)

Mr. Fixit

The Singer 'handyman' arrived the next day as expected.  Unfortunately, I was busy finishing up my cooking in the kitchen at the time, making a mean chicken stew and rice for lunch (I called it mean since my kids always help themselves for seconds whenever I serve this dish).  I sure hope the fragrant smell did not bother him too much as it was nearing lunchtime. (If you wanted to give the recipe a try, just scroll down near the end).  Not intending to be impolite, I turned down the heat for slow cooking and invited him in to have a look see.

At first, I kind of anticipated a look of utter disbelief on his face when he saw it, but the guy just kept a straight face and said, 'Not too bad, Ma'am. But would you consider upgrading with a brand new sewing machine?'. Oh dear, that was a classic.
I just smiled and told him about my 'mission', which is to give the old faithful a new lease in life. I also told him about my blog and how he was going to play a part in it (and then asked permission to take his picture, he he).  He was a trifle surprised when I told him that I couldn't sew - Oho ... what big mouth I have. Whatever happened to 'never expose any of your weak points', eh? :P.  I just stopped yapping right then and let him tinker with the machine - see what sort of repairs needed to be done.

The Stew, The Service Guy and The Little Vinca Girl

The Little Vinca Girl

Vinca flowers

Meanwhile, Nafisa (my youngest), was out alone in the garden picking her favorite vinca flowers.  I found myself going back and forth between the kitchen, the living room and the garden.  Lucky for me the stew was finally done, so I could concentrate on the repair and my little girl. If you were wondering how does a vinca plant look like, to the right is a picture I googled from www.parkswholesaleplants.com.  "It is easy to grow, and requires little or no attention. A grower once reported that he has grown Vinca in the same location for 30 years. It successfully reseeded itself each year, with no effort on his part.  This plant is known by three names: Vinca, Periwinkle (or Madagascar Periwinkle), and Myrtle. Botanists will tell you that there is also a separate strain or variety of Periwinkle. Vinca plants are native to North America, Europe, China and India.  The plants are grown for its attractive glossy, green foliage, as well as its flowers. Flowers bloom all summer, and up to frost. Common colors include white, rose, pink, and red." - Source: www.gardenersnet.com/flower/vincaperiwinkle.htm  

Enough botanical ramblings, back to the repair.

Here are the stuff in the list needed replacing:
* Motor drive belt
* Gear belt
* Pineapple Gear or 'something'
* House Service

After some calculating, Mr. Rais told me that he estimated the cost of repair to be around Rp. 260,000.- or around USD29.25! Wow, not too bad, eh?
While I waited for him to remove the machine for repair, I came across this website: http://www.singerco.com/
Very useful site!  It even has some free designs and project for its users. Here is one of them:

Click here for the full instructions.  Dare I even dream of trying to make such a beautiful creation?  He he ... dream on ...
When I finally snapped out of it, the machine was off the cabinet at last and out she went with Mr. Fixit.  It would be 2-3 days before  I could see her again.

Oh, and I really, really  looked forward to that day. :)


BONUS:

-- > Chicken Stew Recipe < --

Cut 1 whole chicken into 12 parts

Marinate with a mixture of:

- 1 tsp tamarind paste

- 1tsp salt

- 2 tbsp water

Put aside

Grind together:

8 pcs. of shallot/red onion

4 pcs of garlic

3 red chillies (large size)

3 pcs of candle nut/kemiri 

Medium heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Fry the fine mixture of onion etc above until fragrant

Put in the chicken parts, cook for about 3 minutes

Add the following ingredients:

- 4 tbsp of sweet soy sauce

- 1 tsp of sugar 

-1 tsp salt 

- 1 tsp pepper

- 3 dried cloves and 

- 1 cinnamon stick

And after the meat is evenly coated, add:

- 250 ml of water and

- an additional 6 tbsp of sweet soy sauce

Let it boil until the chicken is about done

When the sauce is thickened, add some lemon juice and 

voila!

Bon Appetite :)

My Old Singer Resurrection Project

The Drop Off
Today has been a very exciting day.  The weather was great, the air clean and crisp, the wind was friendly and everything went as planned.
And to top it all, my wonderful parents came by and dropped my old Singer sewing machine at my house!

Original Singer Model 1288

O my gosh, it sure brought back a lot of memories - all 20 years of it! No, don't take me wrong.  That '20 years' label is very, very misguiding.  You must have thought that I'm a sewing goddess by now, all wise and knowing.
To tell you honestly, I used the machine only twice. Pffft! Yes, I know - a stupid waste. I wasted 20 years of my life not learning how to use a sewing machine properly ... so what did I do whenever there were torn clothes, pants needed shortening, etc, you might ask?  I 'outsourced' it.  My bad.

(I should be taking sewing lessons from these guys!) 

So, is it too late for me? Yeeaaa .. naah, I don't think so. As now I'm a stay at home mom, I have all the time in the world to start over.  Yea, that's the spirit!

The Machine
It had been 2 decades since the last time I used it, so had no any idea what to expect.  I went ahead and opened the cabinet top. Only minor disrepairs from lack of use, but what do I know? Then I lifted the heavy machine up and propped it on top of the 'table'.

Oof, the sudden musty smell and collected dust attacked my senses, not pleasant at all.  I spent a good half an hour sneezing like mad - but it was a small price to pay.  So there it was, fully opened. I had totally forgotten how it looked like.

Not too bad (I think).  This was the inside view - a nightmare!

Inside view.

I found the pedal still encased in its original plastic wraps, but the treadle cable was broken.  It was great that the spareparts box was still intact and all the stitch pattern discs complete.

I think everything is there (I hope)

Stitch pattern discs? LOL! Yes, there are 18 discs. Each has its own function: Basic ZigZag, Multi-Stitch Zig-Zag, Domino Stitch, Banner Stitch, Key Stitch, Walls of Troy Stitch, Solid Diamond Stitch, Pennant Stitch, Ball Stitch, Curved Mending Stitch, Spiny Stitch, Block Stitch, Faggoting (Feather Stitch), Elastic Stretch Stitch, Blind Stitch, Crescent Stitch and the last one, Solid Scallop Stitch Discs.  Just place one disc of your choice pattern in the disc holder and there you go.

A pattern disc and the disc holder underneath.

A Hidden Treasure

It was when I rummaged the cabinet that I had actually found another treasure waiting to be discovered.

I found an old needle book beautifully illustrated boasting rust proof, nickel plated, 60 assorted silver eye needles and threader inside!  Wow, that was a mouthful. Not all the needles were there and the threader was missing, though. But heck, it was still a wonderful find anyway. 

You can see its earlier versions from 'See Saw' a blog by Liza Cowan.

Cover view

Inside view

Satisfied with my findings, I quickly made an appointment with a Singer serviceman to have a house visit tomorrow afternoon.  After giving him ample warnings of what to expect, of course.  :)

Stay tuned.

My first try with Digital Scrapbooking

Today I tried SmileBox for the first time.
I was quite surprised at how easy and user friendly it is, so I enjoyed every moment spent on making this first scrapbook of mine a truly memorable one.
Just browse the various template collection and choose one that matches with theme. There are plenty to choose from: Anniversary, Graduation, Reunions, Baptism, Bar Mitzvah, New Home, Retirement, Quinceanera, and many others - you will be amazed at how extensive the template collections are.


Click button to play:

Personalize your own scrapbooking design

Pretty fun isn't it? No glue, no scissors, no mess.  
Oh, and there is this cool Smilebox feature that lets you share your scrapbook with your friends thru Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, TypePad, Myspace, Wordpress, etc. They will certainly love it.
Unfortunately, as it is image-based, the uploading part could take quite some time, especially if you put a lot of pictures inside the scrapbook.
Nevertheless, what's a few minutes as compared to the joy of remembering such precious moments?
So lean back, relax and enjoy :)

Buffalo Shower at Mekarsari (Hold The Soap!)

TRAVEL: OUR MEKARSARI SCHOOL TRIP JOURNAL

'Departure'

It's been a long time since our last trip to Mekarsari, if I remembered it right, we had it on July 3, 2008. The girls were brimming with excitement.  They wore new pink t-shirts and girly jeans that I bought only the day before. Yes, it was actually a school field trip for Dinda (3rd grade) and Zadia's (1st grade), so, we had to ride the tour bus together with, say, about half the school's population?  

And you really, really don't want to know how super noisy it was! Uggh.  

'Hey, our bus was the only one with a toilet! Woohoo!'

But the noise didn't even compare to what I had to endure during the trip.

You see, there were 4 big-sized tour buses for our transportation, and guess what?  Our bus was the only one with a toilet! Whoa! That sure brought our travelling experience to another level, right?

Well, not quite.

Although the extra comfort facility was deemed as a luxury, I for one, thought otherwise.

Let me zip you back to the event of our arrival  at the school yard. You see, we arrived late for the morning assembly.  And because of it, we were the last to board the bus.  Hence, all the front and middle seats were taken and the backseat was the only option for me to sit on.  

And, ummm, did I tell you that the backseat was located right next to the bus' toilet? Horrifying!

I will let you do the math:

32 kids/bus (2 kids peed twice and once for the rest) + limited water in the bus' water reserve = stinky pee smell + utter desperation and difficulty in breathing (on my part)

Lucky for my girls though.  All students were instructed to sit in the front while all parents and teachers had to sit behind them. My one and only consolation was that the person sitting next to me (who had to endure the same torture) - was the school's head principle, Mr. Azwir.  Well, it took 2-hour journey from the assembly point to Mekarsari and upon arrival, we were the only passengers left wearing sickly 'green' faces.

Mekarsari

Before I forgot, let me give you a little bit of background on the place, which I took from their official website (www.mekarsari.com):

"Mekarsari Amazing Tourism Park (MATP) is a place where one can find the wealth of Indonesia’s fruit species gathered together in a single location. It is also intended to develop and breeding of superior varieties of fruit. Mekarsari is one of the biggest tropical fruit garden in the world.

The garden is intended to create a model market garden which will nurture germplasm collection representing fruit trees, vegetables, and flowering plants. The aim here is to safeguard the genetic diversity of these plants. The 264-hectare garden is conceived as a tourist attraction who will enjoy the recreational facilities which include Canal Tour, Kid’s Fun Valley, Country Side, Melon Park, Snake fruit Garden, Deer Park, and other facilities."

I am sure you get the picture of what the hullabaloo was all about - Ecotourism.

Fish Hunt

During the session, we get to ride a mini train to tour the facilities, went to Mekarsari's own harvest market, had some KFC lunch box, engaged in the 'fish hunting' in the mud ... MUD!!

[The picture of newly bought pink tshirts and girly jeans just flashed before my eyes].

Not good.

As it turned out, the fish hunt was loud and fun.  All participants must catch the newly released fish in the muddy water. To be honest, I could barely recognize the girls.  They were all brown and icky and some other students even had mud from head to toe.  

Zadia - fish hunt

Dinda succeeded in catching one fish though, so at least there was some element of victory after all.  She was so proud of herself.

Dinda - After

Zadia - After

Buffalo Bath

After the muddy session, the kids were led to a corner where they could communally gave one lucky bufallo his bath.  Imagine. 32 kids scrubbing down a fully grown buffalo.  Some rode on his back, the others tugged at his slightly curved long horns. Heck, I would be lying if I say I was not concerned about the whole buffalo idea. But the buffalo just took it oh so calmly.

A spa experience perhaps? Maybe.

Drugged? Maybe.

Was I a bit paranoid? Yes. LOL.

Buffalo Bath

Finally, after all the hollering and giggling and squealing, the kids had their fill and retreated to the restrooms for a shower and clothes change.  They spent more time playing the bungee trampoline, pushed a giant transparent ball around, having more fun together.

Strike a pose - giant transparent ball

Return Home

And as the day was ending, we all boarded the bus (this time I got lucky to get a middle seat, THANK YOU GOD!) to return home.  

All tired, but happy.

Make Your Blog a Work of Art!

Today is Monday.

The super weird weather slapped a lot of sunshine (for me to quickly hang our laundry) in the morning and quite suddenly drenched bucketfuls of rain (that send me grabbing the just sun-dried laundry in total panic) in the afternoon. Pheww.

I wished deep, deep down in my heart for any possible thunderstorms to stay away, at least for today. Two fried PCs, a comatose decoder and one TV were the painful reminders of the last 3 storms that had passed this way.

Earlier today my dear Mom gave me a visit to drop some souvenirs that my eldest sister had bought from the States. Ooooo, I really love the Americana keyholder and antique original oil painting that she got me from a junk mall!  My, I can't wait to see what other treasures that she brought in that over-sized luggage of hers.

[This sister of mine loves to travel (and shop) and had gathered so many antiques in the house. Her dream is to have a gallery-like home some day and I can tell that she's not very far away from fulfilling that dream.]

The sweet roasted chicken is done, the rice cooked, waiting for three ravenous children after they went home from school. Hmmm, what to do, what to do ....

To pass away the time, I started browsing again .. and accidentally stumbled into one particular blog called The Shabby Blogs by Megan (US).

My heart almost stopped.

Well, not really.

I mean, look at all the beautiful, beautiful background designs, buttons, blinkies and headers that she has! (Oh, did I mention they're for free?)

Here are some examples of the buttons and blinkies from The Shabby Blogs that I like:

or this one ...

What a generous soul, God bless her!

Notice that my blog background is different now? Or my header, or the cute buttons and blinkies that I had just added a couple of minutes ago?  Felt like I was trying different new outfits at a mall. I'm currently using 'Beautiful Dreamer' background combined with 'Bouquet' header, both by Vera Lim. Drop dead gorgeous!

I know, I know, I still have to work on the header ... I don't know how to integrate it into that small frame in the header yet. One step at a time, Nuning ... one step at a time ...  I'm so excited I had goosebumps all over!

Well?  Your turn. Time to get brave and spice up your blog with some new clothes ...  :)

Free Manga Tutorials

Manga manga manga ... 
That's all my daughters Dinda and Zadia care about now.
Both of them really love to draw - you could probably could still see their early drawings on our bedroom walls in Muri Salim - that is, if the owner hasn't repainted the house yet, LOL ...  The drawings are still shaky but with more practice on the manga basics, I think both girls have lots of potential - well, hopefully they will not get bored and bail out prematurely - as always been the case with their other fads.
And it is because of this reason also that I will not enroll them to a Manga school, well, at least not for now.  Actually, there are quite a few of them located in Jakarta:


MACHIko MANGA SCHOOL
Jl.Kemang Raya No.14B Jakarta Selatan
12730 INDONESIA
Tel.&Fax             +62-21-7181683      

seven artland
Jl. A.M. Sangaji no. 48
Jakarta Pusat 10130
Indonesia
Phone
            +62-21 68802423      
            +62-21 7151 6041      
            +62-812 8130220       (Ririn)
            +62-815 86851979       (Shirley)
Email
info (AT) sevenartland.com
Website
http://www.sevenartland.com

Ma-Ta Art School
English First Plaza Pondok Indah
Jakarta Selatan
(021)7500459

For a starter, I think it's better for the girls to master the manga basics first.  And thanks to Mr. Google and the Internet, after doing a bit of searching, I came across this site 'Manga Tutorials' which offers 'tons of manga drawing instructions from basics to publishing ranging from articles, step-by-steps, references, and video tutorials'  and BEST OF ALL, they are free, non membership exclusive and covers a wide range of topics.
To give you an example, here is a tutorial on how to draw the different emotional expression, posted by Rio:

The girls were so excited when I handed them the print out and quickly did a few sketches of their own.

I promise that I will search for more (free) manga tutorials, but, since it's already late (yawn) and I could barely open my eyes (blink blink), I will continue my search tomorrow and surely add to this post. Good night everyone :)          (zzzz  zzzz  zzzzzzzzz) ...