Two Things Tuesday--Condensed Version

My oldest was sick yesterday. So why the condensed version today? Simply because eventhough she's playing and eating and doing well today, yesterday everything stopped to take care of her...so all the stuff that was supposed to get done yesterday is now happening today, PLUS all the stuff that is supposed to happen today...

Here we go...

THING ONE: BENTO!!! If you have never heard of this (as I had NEVER heard of this until literally 2 weeks ago) you are about to be blown away! It is awesome! Basically, a bento is a meal/snack that has lots of variety and set up in an artistic/aesthetically pleasing way and it's in a little box. That's the gist I got anyway. They originated in Japan, but the few sites that I have looked at have been from all over the world. Here is the one I came across while browsing liaspace ... Bentolicious. It is so wonderful and I am completely obsessed! Check out these pics, keep in mind, this is FOOD people!! You eat it!!

This one was for a bento contest. Contests for bento---I wanna go!!

So cute! What kid could resist??

The variety of fruits and veggies is what really appeals to me. My kids aren't even picky eaters, but I think it would be so fun to eat little flower shaped foods! I mean a bear?? Seriously, it's ridiculously cute! But if you do have a picky eater I think I would definitely try this.

Another bento blog I found is http://www.americaninbento.blogspot.com/. She makes food that would probably appeal to most Americans. Check out that white, car shaped item in the center of the box on the left...know what that is??

It's a hard boiled egg!!! Apparently, there is such a thing called and "egg mold" where you boil an egg, peel it, stick it in an egg mold and then refrigerate it--voila! Cool shaped egg! My kids LOVE hard boiled eggs (for some odd reason) and I thought this was just too adorable! I looked up egg molds too and they are only like $3...sweet!!

You can get lots of bento supplies off ebay...but I found a local place too that I'm gonna try first. Mainly so I can ask lots of questions and probably annoy the tar out of them.

Anyway, something super fun to try!


THING TWO: I can't shirr!! I tried and tried. I followed the tutorials from SEVERAL websites and it just won't work! Uber frustrating! There is just no bunching happening. I'm using elastic thread, I wound the bobbin myself, I tried both increasing the tension AND leaving it normal. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I'm hoping I break will help me figure it out. I REALLY want to shirr some stuff though! That is a sad "thing" to report on...but that's what I got. Ofcourse, after that fiasco, I had to get the bad juju out of my machine--so I sewed up a cute little skirt with ruffle pockets for my sick little girl, all made from one of my hubby's old shirts. It worked perfectly so hopefully the machine is now officially...cleansed!