Photoshop Play

So we lounged away today (doing odds and ends like setting up trash collection services and utilities) while we wait for the keys to our house (YAY!!). Though Noah needs to help, I played around with photoshop a little--unfortunately we only have Photoshop elements, so I was somewhat limited. I wanted muted tones with just the blue of his car seat coming through. I wish the initial photo would have come out a little more clear, then it would look a little better.



I also wanted to share this picture of Isabella and Mimi. Doesn't she just love her Mimi?


While we worked on the house on Sunday, Bella played with these wooden "paper" dolls by Melissa and Doug. They were a steal at only $3 at the Family Swap Meet earlier that morning.



Here is our nice scraped ceiling in the master bedroom. No popcorn here! (Check out the view)

Our Little Flower Girl

I hope I'm not spoiling her debut at the wedding, but check out our cute little flower girl. We picked up her dress today at David's Bridal. Since we were the only ones in the store, they let her try on her dress on the bridal pedestals. She had a lot of fun playing Cinderella.

Early Milestones

I just received an email from the hospital with the milestones that Noah should be hitting in the next few months. Amazingly, he's already hit most of them. I attribute his early physical skills to sleeping on his stomach.

He first rolled over September 18th (at 6 weeks)--4-7 months milestone

First smile September 15th (5.5 weeks)--1-3 months milestone

He's been cooing for several weeks--1-5 months milestone

He's been grasping for his binky this past week--2-4 months milestone

He's just starting to turn to objects of interest but hasn't mastered this--3-5 months milestone

Pictures Soon...I Promise

If you haven't noticed, our camera has been in the shop since the beginning of last month. We're having it serviced (from an incident where Abel sat on it) and recalibrated. For about two weeks, we were using a point-and-shoot camera, but then Bella misplaced it. It'll turn up soon (I hope) but fortunately we were informed yesterday that our camera is in the process of being shipped back from the Olympus repair center. YAY!

Sushi and Sashimi Rice

When I was pregnant with Noah, I couldn't eat any sushi...and I have certainly missed it. I really love California Rolls and used to make them all the time with my friends in college, but we were recently given some fresh tuna, so we made some tuna sashimi.

Many people don't know the difference between sushi and sashimi. Sushi is bite-sized pieces of cooked or raw fish or vegetables with rice and is usually wrapped with seaweed. Sashimi is raw fish on a bed of rice served with soy and wasabi.

Now that you're a sushi and sashimi expert, I thought I would share with you a quick sushi and sashimi rice recipe. Typically sushi and sashimi rice is a very involved process which requires several rinses and multiple soaking and straining sessions...this is much easier.

3 cups short grain rice
3 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoon salt

Soak the rice for 30 minutes in cold water. Strain then cook the rice in 3 1/3 cups of water. Simmer for 15 minutes. At the same time, combine the remaining ingrediants and heat until combined and the mixture turns from cloudy to clear. Once the rice is finished, put into a wooden bowl (not a metal bowl) and pour the vinegar mixture over the rice, stirring with a wooden spoon. Fan the rice while you stir to facilitate cooling and drying of the vinegar to make the rice glossy. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Tip 1: Wet your hands with the rice vinegar when forming the beds of rice or rolls for your sushi and sashimi. This will prevent the rice from sticking to your fingers.

Tip 2: Sushi rice should be stored at room temperature and covered with a moist cotton cloth. Refrigerating sushi rice will cause it to become too firm.

Tip 3: If the water is milky when you are soaking it, rinse the rice and change the water. If you fail to do this, your rice won't taste fresh.

Tip 4: Don't make the rice in accordance with the directions on the bag. Sushi rice takes less water to create a firmer texture than everyday rice.

The Girl's Guide to Buying Tires

Although this is out-of-the-norm, I wanted to share this information because I couldn't find just one website which provided all the information I needed to help me select a new tire. Even when I asked Abel what everything meant, he admitted that he knew at one point but had forgotten. Atleast now we'll be able to access this information the next time we need to buy tires.

Tires are tricky business but the first thing to remember is that each number means something. My tires are P265/65R17. You can determine what kind of tires are on your car by looking at the tire itself or (more easily) by going to a tire distributer's webpage and entering the details of your car.

For more help, about.com has this wonderful illustration showing where you can get all the numbers from:


The "P" means a passenger tire. These tires are usually softer for a smoother ride. A tire with "LT" is a light truck tire and somewhere on the tire it will say the load capacity. If you have a "LT" tire, you need to also take into consideration how much weight you're going to be pulling.

The "265" is the width of the tire (in millimeters) from sidewall to sidewall. The larger the number, the wider the tire.

The "65" is the tire's ratio of height to width. This number is also indicative of the tire's purpose. Numbers lower than "70" have better steering and handling because of the shorter sidewall.

The "R" means that it's a radial tire. If your tire was purchased in the last few decades, it's a radial tire.

The "17" is the rim diameter measured in inches.

Sometimes these numbers are followed by a two digit number and letter (like "89V"). This number is part of a code which tells you the load capacity. Remember the number is per tire, so if you want the maximum capacity for the car, you'll have to multiply the number by four. The letter tells you the maximum speed the tire was designed to run for extended periods of time.

For the maximum load capacity per tire, you can check a table located on any number of websites including: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_code

Here is a list of the tire speed codes:
S 112 mph
T 118 mph
U 124 mph
H 130 mph
V 149 mph
W 168 mph
Y 186 mph

Once you know what kind of tire you have, you can compare tires by using the Uniform Tire Quality Grading Standards (UTQGS) ratings. UTQGS ratings are based on three categories: treadwear, temperature, and traction.

Treadwear is rated on a scale of 20 to 620. In general, the higher the number in treadwear, the better the tread. A tread rating of 200 will last twice as long as a tread rating of 100. In my short research experience, I would consider tread ratings in the 500-600 area as good. You should be aware that tread ratings were too expensive to be done by the government, so each tire manufacturer determines their own tread ratings and then justifies its rating to the government. This means that you're not necessarily comparing apples to apples when comparing different brands, but it does help.

Temperature is graded in the form of A, B, C (with A being the highest). This represents the tire's resistence to the generation of heat.

Traction is graded in the form of AA, A, B, and C (with AA being the highest). This represents the tire's ability to stop on wet pavement. It does not take into consideration acceleration, hydroplaning, or cornering.

Someone Forgot to Lock the Pantry