Letting Go

Well, here we are.
Tomorrow morning I am dropping Jina off at her dorm.

Much change has taken place in the past year of our lives.
The completion of Jina's childhood and her transition into "adulthood" has taken place.
We have been so busy making sure all the paperwork is in order, buying supplies for college and physically moving Jina to another city a couple hours away. It has been one huge blur and we've adapted to the change.

Jina & I in our hot pink hair phase 2005

Things have been going great with all the changes.  I've only had one or two big cry sessions about Jina's departure. (One was with her baby brother). Yes, it was as sweet as it sounds, they really love each other and are very close.

Baby Brother and Big Sister - 2007

When I've been asked how I'm handling all of this - honestly, I'm doing well.
However, there has been one annoying thing, the "consoling" words of - "At least you have more kids...". Yes, I do but it doesn't replace the one I am letting go of.  The house will not be as filled as it once was. Our family will not have the same dynamic anymore. A changing of the guard is taking place, a different child will now be the oldest in the house.  Responsibility comes with that position and he has some learning to do. I've also had to cook less food, which is strange right now. As a mom you condition yourself to cook enough food a set number of people over the years.

I guess ultimately I feel mostly pride right now for what a great human being Jina has become. The waves of bittersweetness of letting go and seeing her off into the world is admittedly overwhelming at times though. She has been my sidekick my entire adult life and in many ways I have grown up with her in tow. After 18 years of seeing her daily it will change to once or twice a month if I am lucky. It's an adjustment. Good thing we have cell phones.

I feel like I am leveling up in the parenthood game. Then I send off another child and level up again in 2 years. It's really one big blur my friends. Those of you who are just starting your families keep that in mind. The teething babies and sleepless nights quickly turn into college bound young adults.

I'm looking forward to the drive to the university in the morning. We'll have one last meal together with our boyfriends like a scene from Gilmore Girls and head off in our own directions. Then new chapter begins.

Thea - Leveled Up

September 19, 2013

18

A little late to arrive but practically perfect in every way.

She almost killed me, put me in the hospital for a couple months but came out screaming like a little fighter. Born on my grandmother's birthday and named after two of her grandmothers. Jina arrived to the world in the same hospital that I did. She was bright red from screaming and at 18 years old myself at the time I was a little freaked out. But when she opened her slate blue eyes (which are now brown) all was good.

 

18 years later to day all is still good.

Being a teenaged single mother the cards were certainly stacked against us at times. I did not always make the best choices in life. I often veered towards the hard road. Through many things that most will be lucky enough to never experience this girl is the rose that grew from concrete.
Not only a beauty, she is that closet smart girl that takes incredible joy from making mid terms "her bitch".  She has worked hard with great care and personal pride in all of her academic work, violin lessons and ballet performances. She has been the best big sister, my little mini me and our family's Hero Of Time.

To know her is to love her. 
Welcome to adulthood Baby Ji.

Senior Year - AP Courses and Tests

AP - Advanced Placement is a program here in the United States offering college-level curriculum and examinations to high school students. There are currently 34 courses and exams offered.

An excerpt from a recent special insert in The Seattle Times - On Course Your Guide to College Planning 2013 noted that an "AP exam can earn credit or placement at college and universities. An AP Chemistry test score of 4 can equal Chemistry 142, for example."

AP tests are scored on a 1 to 5 scale as follows:

• 5 – Extremely well qualified
• 4 – Well qualified
• 3 – Qualified
• 2 – Possibly qualified
• 1 – No recommendation

AP classes are challenging but are great. I am not speaking from personal experience myself, but my daughter has definitely benefited from taking them. Sure there has been some complaints about the homework load some days (AP Government Politics - United States just sounds like a big homework -work load) but she has had a great time learning in these challenging classes. I often say to her the phrase "So. Much. Nerd." because she sends me midday up date texts that look like this:

What she kicked ass in was AP Government Politics Jeopardy.
In case you are wondering, I do wake up every morning truly thankful for how different my kids are from what I was when I was a teenager.  My daughter already has a college credit for French from the University of Washington.  For a fee of $89.00 for the AP exam she is walking away with college credit if her scores are high enough. It is budget friendly in comparison to what you'll have to pay for the equivalent credit in college. That $89.00 fee is per exam too. Be sure to add that to your upcoming costs list for your kid's high school years.  There is financial assistance for the fee for those who qualify.

I wanted to put this information out there now because we're currently enrolling for classes for next year at the high school now. If your son or daughter can place in an AP course and can handle the extra work load I highly recommend you and your child consider it. It is a great way to save a little money on college fees and get a little bit ahead a little early. Also the challenge of the classes is the greatest benefit of all. (As you can tell from the screenshot above.)

Other programs to consider are the Running Start Program (Washington State) - is a program for high school juniors and seniors and allows students to enroll in college courses numbered 100 or above, tuition-free, while completing high school. I actually participated in this program in its early years and I benefited from it as I was not really high school material.
Also there is the IB - International Baccalaureate is a 4 year program offered at many high schools. The IB program isn't offered at my kid's high school but at another school within our district, so I don't have much knowledge about its courses and focus, but I have heard it is an in depth program. For more information check out www.ibo.org

xo-Thea

Senior Year - An Update

Posts about our Senior Year Project have been sparse.
Mainly because so. much. stuff. has been going on.

Right before winter break one of Jina's teachers took a moment out of class and said; "When you return from break it will be the last semester of your high school career and it will fly by."

And it has. Its the last week of March. What the heck?

I know Rebekah & Madison have been in the same boat. Rebekah keeps and insane schedule visiting clients and caring for her younger daughters. Thanks to Facebook updates I saw that Madison was accepted to some amazing schools! I can't wait to see which one gets the honor of her presence.

As I've mentioned before Jina has already accepted enrollment to the university that was #1 on her list.  We are in the process of accumulating scholarships and loans (more on that in an upcoming post). Also part of my game plan is to continuously play the lottery in hopes that I can just pay for all of my kids to go to college myself. I'll keep you all updated on that.

Speaking of small fortunes... Jina & I took a trip down to Oregon recently to visit Jenny. (Be jelly Jenny made these for us!) We also took advantage of Oregon's lack of sales tax and purchased all things for prom. I am allowed to share this blurry crappy picture of her dress:

Not the color or style we were originally were looking for, but you know how it goes. I'll share pictures from prom when it happens.

That basically catches up to date for now. :)

Thea

Controlled Chaos

I currently run three small businesses out of my home.
I have four children, three of them are teenagers with packed schedules.
I cook dinner every night. Not because I am a super serious health nut, but three of my kids and I are lactose intolerant, its just easier to cook and know what all goes into our dinner. We like to avoid upset stomachs at all costs.

So all of that takes some planning.
I know a lot of people rave about Google Calendar. You can access it from your smart phone or desktop. Its easy to update yada, yada, yada. I think that would be great for me if I only had to manage myself.
I'm a well known technology hater when it comes to organization.
Using an online calendar is like using a credit card over cash. You can easily add something to it but unless you're looking at your statement constantly you can forget about what you put on it. Sometimes its nice to know exactly what is in your "wallet".

I take a lot of crap for this, but I use a big desk calendar. The kind that you pick up at Staples for under $5.00. Its easy for me to glance at when I am on the phone and I need to schedule something.

But this year I've been a bit more busy with work and my kids so I needed to break it down even further.
I found these great weekly to do free printables from artsy-fartsy mama.

Weekly calendar pages from artsy-fartsy mama

The calendar pages are blank and begin on Mondays. They also have a "this week's menu" section and shopping list section. I like it. I didn't have to create it myself. I just printed off 52 of those suckers and stuck them into a half an inch binder. I also added a monthly calendar page too for each month. I really liked this one that is available from Infarrantly Creative.

The binder I picked up was $4.00 and has see through cover so you can add a custom touch to it. I decided to make mine it more "Thea".

Pardon my latin.

I just printed this onto a random piece of scrapbooking paper that I had. (I go for the hard core inspirational quotes.) The binder is really thin and it fits just fine into my bag - I carry a messenger bag.

For those that struggle with organization I highly recommend getting low tech. Sometimes mom hands are too busy to hold a phone or walk around with a laptop or tablet.  There is something about actually writing down your to do's, having them open on your desk or kitchen counter to refer to.


Thea

14

As mentioned earlier this week, it's birthday week at my house.
Today is my youngest son's 14th birthday.

My little miracle man - the toddler version.

Always super serious...(heh)

...and quite handsome too. I'm pretty sure he has groupies since kindergarten.

Scenes from my home December 2012 - Birthday boy on top of the island. I still don't know why this happened...

Like his handsome older brother girls have always "admired" him. Once in elementary school when I was an art docent for his class, a group of girls came up and asked me "What's he like at home? And what type of cereal does he eat?" I tried my hardest not to laugh, they were "fans" of my kid and wanted to know more about him. He may or may not have a fan page on Facebook...I'm not sure. :)

I'm pulling him out of school early today to go buy candy because we can and have festivities with the family later in the evening. It will be a good 14th birthday.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

11

Its birthday week in my house.
I happened to have two children in the same week but in different years.

Today my baby, my youngest, the one who has her mother's temperament, turns 11 today.

My daughters December 2012

She's still blonde and almost taller than me. Musically talented and one of the world's biggest mommy girls.  Second only to the girl who is standing next to her in the picture above.

2008

11 years of uber smiles and cuddles with my baby-baby.

xo-Thea

We've Been On Hiatus

If you didn't notice. :)

As with life things can become very roller coaster like and it doesn't allow for much thought processing via the internet since often you find yourself in a knee jerk do it now mode.

Reconnecting with old friends, loosing a couple too, paying bills, daily grind stuff, extended family stuff...it all adds up sometimes. There's not much left for the frivolity of mind dumping on the computer.

Yet birthdays still happen:

My son's 16th birthday cake

Kids grow up and do amazing things:

 

My eldest daughter modeling on a local tv show.

Life keeps on keeping on. Since my own father passed away a little over 8 ago when I was still in my 20's I feel cheated. I know from talking with my other friends who also lost their parents at a young age, it's a common to feel cheated. You didn't get enough time, you didn't get to share big life experiences with them. It can make you long for their presence and do the "I wishes".
There's not much you can do when you are at a loss like that except fill your heart with good thoughts of them and go on. On the flip side, as a parent you can invest that quality time with your kids. Spend as much time as you can with them because life flies by and you don't want your kids to ever say "I wish you would've spent more time with me." They can get over not owning an Xbox because there will be another thing just like it down the road, but never will be more time to spend during their childhood.

I'm not the most successful gal in my business world. I could be more assertive with that if I wanted. I could be making more money and buying more cool stuff, but that takes away from my time with my kids. I'll be honest, this year its really setting in how fast the time flies by. I'm in the months count down mode to when my oldest will be packing up and moving out. That's it. That's all I get. Even if she has to come back home and live with me as many of us had to do, she'll be different.

Thoughts like that come up especially when you see horrible things in the news. It urges you to use your time wisely, you never know what will happen next.

Hug your kids and the ones you love more often.

xo-Thea

Look for upcoming posts on The Senior Year Project.

Potatoes & Berries

Potato Fruits (True Potato Seed) 

The past few weeks have been quite interesting in my garden.
First in the picture above you'll notice some fruit that look like cherry tomatoes, but really they are potato fruit/true potato seeds. In all my years of gardening this is the first time a potato plant has ever done this for me. I've long heard of this mythical fruit but never experienced it first hand.
Yes, you are hearing tones of giddiness over potato fruits.
Yeah- I probably need to get out more...

Potato Fruit of Yukon Gold Potatoes

I've picked a couple of the softer feeling ones and they are hanging out on the windowsill inside. I've heard various methods of extracting the seeds but I'm thinking about doing what I do to get my tomato seeds. Smash/wait/strain/dry/store. This is my first time planting Yukon Gold potatoes which are apparently known to frequently produce these fruits.


Onto the great berry research of 2012.
Can you tell the difference between a blackberry, tayberry, loganberry, olallieberry and a marionberry?
It can be quite confusing.
I have raspberries, blackberries and marionberries in my garden. (In my garden loosely applies to the blackberry because in my parts these fruit bearing vines are spawns of satan that invade everything! It's a weed!)

Marionberries

But after some discussion with a friend (while we picked blueberries on a local farm) she mentioned that she recently went tayberry picking. I mentioned that I preferred loganberries (duh, I'm from Whidbey Island) over tayberries. Her son then asked what those berries were and my friend responded "They're both a blackberry/raspberry cross."
Which they are and apparently they are not alone.

Berry Pedigrees (Graph credit to knewance.com)

Like children each hybrid takes one a trait from the parent. Loganberries tend to be more of a deep red like a raspberry but on the tart side like a blackberry. Tayberries are larger and a bit sweeter than the loganberries. Its a crazy matrix of qualities and characteristics. I spent a good hour or so just reading about them all. How their brambles & vines trail and grow. When they typically ripen in the year and of course their tastes. Personally I jam all of my berries so I guess I am mostly indifferent on preference. I'm definitely no berry connoisseur. How about you?  Did you even realize there were so many choices here? It's kinda fascinating. 

:) Thea

Senior Year - College Tours

Last week I dropped off Jina at her first choice college.
Over the past year we've received a lot college informational mail, but we hadn't received anything from her first choice college. We were a little worried. Mainly because a lot of kids that would normally apply to the big university closest to where we live has cut their in state student acceptance to take in more out of state students (more money). Which pushes in state kids to other colleges in state. We worried for a second that Jina's first choice college was going to pass up promoting itself because their applicants have been upped since the big university has done what it has done.

Then it came.
A special invite for academically high achieving students - WWU Western Scholars Invitational

It's a program that hosts 175 students for a 3 day stay on campus at the student residences. The students got to experience the college, lectures, faculty and local tours. Even discussion on the application process for enrollment into the university which was probably the greatest benefit for the entire weekend if you ask me. If you ask Jina she'll tell you it was all the great people and great places in the university. 

When I picked her up she already claimed to have her roommates picked out for dormitory living (that she met there), sworn off her car and stated she needs a bike instead and griped how she has to live through her senior year in high school. She wants to go to college now. 

She clearly had a great time and great experience with this program. Other colleges must offer this sort of thing but I've only noticed invites for day tours of campuses. Which I do highly recommend, we've eliminated a couple colleges based on those. Although this particular tour was catered for "high cap" students there are tours for the regular student too. Keep your eyes peeled for any tour really. 

So on the mom side of things, I got a taste of departure of my eldest baby. Which is odd to say as I have friends that just had a baby this weekend. I feel so ahead of time, but I started much earlier than most do these days and as we look ahead to a year full of adventures and accolades of high school's Senior Year  I can already envision next year preparing her for real departure to college. It will be bittersweet for sure. 

xo-Thea

"You're Not Special" Graduation Commencement Speech

With lots graduations happening right now I think many caught wind of this great commencement speech.

Wellesley High English Teacher David McCullough advises high school graduates to earn their fulfilling lives. Video courtesy of Wellesley Media

This brought a smile to my face and I hope when my children reach this accolade their commencement speech will be equally as inspirational. What do you guys think?

-Thea

Recipe - Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancakes)

Okonomiyaki - The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked". -Wikipedia translation. 

It actually translates into hella yummy.

Its a great hearty snack that can include a variety of ingredients.  I've made them with shrimp and kimchee before. But the recipe that I am sharing today is my favorite combination.

Things you'll need:

1/2 head of green cabbage finely shredded

3 green onions chopped

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of Furiake

4-6 pieces of bacon (cut into 2 inch pieces)

vegetable oil for pan

Toppings:

Kewpie mayonaise

Tonkatsu Sauce (I choose this over the okonomiyaki sauce -see why below)

Shred your cabbage.

Chop your green onions. I cut them "fancy style" on the diagonal.

Prep your batter base. Eggs, flour & water. - Mix them well.

Add about 1 tablespoon of Furiake. (I've included an Amazon link but if you are local or have access to an Asian grocer you can easily find this there. I purchased this atUwajimaya locally.)

Add the cabbage & onions to the batter. Coat your cabbage well.

Cut your bacon into 2 inch pieces.

Prep your pan (I used my trusty cast iron skillet that I love dearly) set onto medium-high heat add a splash of oil.

When the pan is hot scoop in a heaping spoonful of the mixture into the pan.

Place 2-3 pieces of bacon on top of your "heaps".

Flip them over when the batter starts to brown. It takes about 3 minutes or so to cook on each side - depending on your pan. 

Set the cooked pancake on top of a few paper towels for a minute to soak up extra oils.

Serve warm.

Top with Tonkatsu Sauce or Okonomiyaki Sauce (the tonkatsu sauce is less expensive and not as sweet as the okonomiyaki sauce) & Kewpie Mayonaise.

Have fun making these & experimenting with things you can add.

Enjoy!

xo-Thea

Originally posted on August 24, 2010

Mother Earth News Fair

This is a cross post from my personal blog but it was so much fun I have to share it here too.

Rebekah's latest Senior Year Project post will be posted tomorrow. Poor thing has been without internet and sick for the past few days. That's cruel and unusual punishment from the universe!

---

Apologies on the lack of crafty posts. I've been up to other things. Ya know, trying to keep my life interesting and enriched. :)

This past weekend I helped out my friend Jessi with her booth at the Mother Earth News Fair in Puyallup, Washington.

It was a totally different type of show of what I'm personally used to but it was a lot of fun.

I felt like I was totally exposed to my friend's "other life". You think you know someone well and then you witness them in "work mode" and its a whole new person.  It was awesome!

Jessi drew a massive crowd for her "What the Cluck" talk. Times like this I go into my "older sister" pride mode for her. She had people who were shoulder to shoulder rolling with laughter while taking notes.

Her book sold out completely. (I've seen this happen at two different shows now!)

And she has really fun garden world friends. I'm totally comparing them to my extremely fun crafty friends. It would be one insanely fun party if those two worlds could collide. Apparently we're all drinkers.

Erica from NW Edible stopped by. Love, love, love her blog and highly recommend it to my local friends.

The super funny Lisa Taylor stopped by the booth before she it the stage. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to one of her talks, you must! She is hilarious.

Jessi's publishing company (Timberpress) reps were so fun! My eyes started leaking a couple times from laughing so hard.

And a special shout out to my new crush Ivette Soler. First she is absolutely beautiful, gorgeous porcelain skin. She is also wise and real - I totally got that from her just from a 20 minute conversation with her. I am totally buying her book The Edible Front Yard.

I could gush about the whole weekend but honestly I'm pooped. I didn't think I would be since I didn't have to do any real work so to speak. It's exhausting to have so much fun!

Here's a slideshow of the pictures I took in case you're interested.

Happy Monday!

-Thea

Happy 17 Jina!

17 years ago I welcomed Jina into the world.

18 years old and a week before my high school graduation.
I had a really rough year and an even rougher pregnancy. I recall watching a lot of the OJ Simpson trial from a hospital bed.
I didn't take any birthing classes.
I didn't even have a significant other. I just went in and had a baby.
I had two friends in the delivery room with me taking a crash course class on how a baby was born.
It seemed like a sitcom episode at times.

Jina had a ton of brown/blonde hair and big doll eyes and had my heart ever since.



Her being changed my life for the better. Not in a whole parental legacy way either, let me remind you that I was a bit of a troublemaker. Having her gave me real responsibility. Truly having to care for someone else besides myself. I had to quit being a jerk and do something good pretty promptly.



Like any aspect of parenting it hasn't always been easy, but its always been "us".
She is an amazing person.
One of my favorite persons.


Happy Birthday Sunshine-