Show me your lunchbox…

…and I’ll show you mine. With BabyS starting kindergarten this fall I’ve started looking for fun ways to pack her lunchbox.

I looked into different kinds of solutions and concluded I wanted a box with some kind of compartments. That way I can mix different sizes of food in one meal with just one box. There are MANY different solutions “out there” but the one I liked the most is the IKEA Krus box. Plain and simple…

Here is an example I came across from June HS blogg

Love that the dividers can be taken out and thus creating bigger/smaller compartments. IKEA offer this box in three different sizes and the prices won’t bankrupt you either;

Size:	24 x 14 x 10 cm	24 x 19 x 13 cm	24 x 19 x 7 cm
Price:	49 NOK	59 NOK	49 NOK

I’ve also gone shopping for cool trinkets to help facilitate the creativity going into making BabyS lunchboxes more fun! I’m looking forward to playing with these…

boiled egg molds…

some of the cookie cutters I will be using for more than gingerbread cookies bought from Dealextreme

I’ve seen lots of pictures where cookie cutters have been used to cut out slices of cheese, “fish pudding”, cucumber…

- What kind of boxes do you use to pack your lunch?
- How do you pack your lunchboxes?

Now all I have to do is get my butt over to IKEA and buy the boxes…

Gradually returning to work

These days I’m slowly realizing that my maternity leave is soon over. Last week I had the first of my two-days-a-week workweek. Which is the start of my gradual return to work. While I’m at work DaddyO will be at home with BabyS. Over the course of a few months I will be slowly increasing my work days as DaddyO increases his off-days.

It’s great to get more out amongst “normal” people…but while at work I miss BabyS.

While I was on maternity leave my office space has been occupied by a consultant that has been working on a project for my employer. Today I realized it’s time to claim my space back!

- New computer, check!
Tomorrow I do the upgrade of my desktops and put up some of “my stuff”. Maybe a picture of BabyS on my desk?

my new Lenovo X1 Ultrabook, sweet!

Gong Hay Fat Choy

This Sunday we enter the year of the snake.Yes, it is Chinese New Year! So time to brush up on some Chinese well-wishing phrases.

Found these online (with Mandarin):
(xīn nián kuài lè) Happy New Year!
(nián nián yǒu yú) Always get more than you wish for (a wish for surplus and bountiful harvests every year)
(shēn tǐ jiàn kāng) Enjoy good health
(gōng zuò shùn lì) Everything goes well with your work
(mǎ dào chéng gōng) Success immediately upon arrival (usually to express a wish to succeed in doing something, such as taking part in an examination, a presentation, a negotiation, or a competition)
Most important of all:

Gong Hay Fat Choy - Happy and prosperous

BabyS has picked up something with Chinese New Year and conveniently folds her hands as she lifts them up and down. Almost looks like she is wishing everybody “Gong Hay, Gong Hay”.

now if I could get BabyS to do it on command….then the lei sees will be pouring in

CasaR has been decorated for the event…

well-wishes and the colors red and gold…that’s CNY

With BabyS enriching our lives I now want to make CNY celebrating a tradition. Hopefully I will follow up next year…and we can call it a tradition. Last years celebration was done in Singapore…old school with lots of family visits.

This years CNY dinner will be held @CasaR with my family members that live in Norway. We have planned a simple steamboat dinner with an abundance of food…just as a CNY dinner should be. I’ll try and post some pictures after the event.

- what are your plans for Chinese New Year?
- have you prepared a bunch of lei sees for all the your ones?

Now off to clean up  BabyS toys from all over…

Give away winner = TweedyBird!

A few weeks back I joined in on the Hero Arts 2013 Catalog Blog Hop with the Hero Hostesses. Seeing the wonderful creations the HA-hostesses had posted in their blogs were truly inspirational. During the blog hop there were also announced give aways. And yours truly won one of them!

Not being a born winner I had to read Kellys message a few times before I understood what she was asking me for. In her blog Lovin’ The life I Color she even had a post about me winning the give away.

Well today I received my stamp. Yay! Kelly added a little extra with my stamp…a super cute card with a personal message inside. Thank you Kelly!

I    the owl!

What did I win you ask?
A stamp from the new Hero Arts catalog, of course! It was a new release blog hop…
I look forward to play with this stamp (Kelly also added some ribbon too, she’s SO sweet)

The stamp is called CG516 Number Pattern. If you want one too, it’s available @SimonSaysStamp, here to be exact.

- have you ever won a give away?
- which stamps are your favorites in the 2013 Hero arts catalog?

...Off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday