Colors

Colors are everywhere and are so common nowadays in our modern life that we almost could forget their being. Until recently I went to visit an Ancient Chinese Art exhibition, said to be once-in-a-life event, where paintings across 5000 years were collected and shown, didnot I realise that the hardship in making these colors, or more precisely, in persisting these colors. At that time most colors are extracted from mineral stones which themselves are precious, and it is also notoriously complicated to prevent colors from fading away. In all this explains the rarity of those coloured Chinese ancient paintings. 

Certainly it is not such any more nowadays.Yet, when an old problem gets solved, a new one springs out. Which color shall we use when confronted with dazzlingly number of colors? I didnot need to go far to get this problem. When I was in a blank old house with nothing, think positively , this would be a nice canvass. All white is the main color which has a maxing and new effect, used on all walls and ceilings. Our builder recommended us to use Elephant's Breath color on skirtings and doors. It is kind of color which gives warmth and staidness but not as flashy as red, not as aging as yellow range, and is classified in a range of contemporary neutral colors which I like. Wheatfield color on carpets is a kind of gold yellow, proved so far resisting my kid's naughtiness best while keeping its new look. In the kitchen, we stayed simple by using black worktop, high-gloss white cabinets, and grey long tiles, which gives modern look. We also used a touch of Red Earth in the skirtings of bedrooms, as a bold design, to give coziness. You might not feel exhausted when you are reading here, but I can tell you that we were all exhausted when we reached this stage. And it is not finished yet. Lights, so many colors! Even for simple ones. Shinny white from hydrogen lights, glowing yellow from incandescent lights, Mercury white from Led lights. If it is a shaded light, shades render different colors. And perspectives make difference. For lights from the same bulbs, direct to the floor or reflected from the ceiling, the feelings created are different. Certainly there are more and it is hard to imagine that meticulous details involved in decoration. So it is wise to know when to stop. Glad, it is done for all before we ran out of all the steam!   

Online shopping, what more you could shop there?

Thanks to all the benefits gained when I did all my shopping online for my newborn during my pregnancy, I think I should give the return for the gain, so I decided to venture into some categories which I used to have doubt and shop more of them online. Till now, I managed to buy some clothes, curtains, curtain poles, lights, clocks, groceries like meat and vegs. Not all experience ended up being smooth. We bought a light and found out that it does not have a diffuser which caused the light too bright and made it not suitable in kid's room. We chose a clock online and went to the shop for the second look, realizing that the picture on the website is not well taken from all perspectives so the real thing gives a very different feeling. The biggest piece we ordered online is our IKEA Corner Wardrobe. We designed our wardrobe on their website and got the satisfactory delivery. The worst online order is our washing machine. After all the trouble of fitting it in, it could not dry at first and then stopped working at all. Now everyone is waiting for a replaced one with the great fear of going back to the age without machines. We almost bought tiles, paints, carpets online, but we were so new to these colour schemas that we had to overcome our laziness and go to shops to grasp a real feeling toward all the colours, equivalent of taking some aesthetics lessons. But perhaps next time we will. But still I will visit those mortar-brick stores, because that is fun.

Smell of Life

Last Christmas could be the warmest Christmas since I came here and the wettest one. Through all the winter, it was raining and raining. The arrival of global warming could be that quick? After a biblical rainy winter, sunshine came finally! Spotted this book in a lovely shop in our new residential zone, because its cover title reminded me of one friend who once introduced me of this interesting quote. The full one is "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford"---From Samuel Johnson. 

Tower Bridge in the evening

Passed by Tower Bridge every day and this is the first time that I caught the moment when the Bridge opened at night, with beautiful lightening. Bye to you, Always impressed by you for being beautiful and yet practical. Bye to you because we are moving out. (The picture taken one month ago.)

Dropbox, making my file transference easy!

Dropbox, really handy! Connecting PC and wireless, across OS among Windows, Linux, Android, so seamlessly! Otherwise I would have had to use USB, trying mail attachment, and look everywhere for a cable.

To 2013

When I looked back of 2013, these words came to my mind first: round the clock, education, schools, live in chaos, food safety, my Breastfeeding Journal app (on Google Play), work, life, balance, live in fear, landlord, decoration, paints, legwork.  

New Mum's new experience

How to know a baby is over cold or over hot: my trick is to feel her nose-tip. If her nose-tip feels cold, that means that she is really cold and she needs more clothes. Another rule is also very useful: When a baby is active, running around, she usually should wear one layer less that the mum wears. When she is in the pram, she should wear one more layer than the mum wears.

How to know a baby starts not to digest well: some early signs to watch out: when the baby starts to have looser and looser poo, she often has some digestion problems and her food might be too greasy.

How to know a baby starts feeling unwell: when a baby is not teething and suddenly starts drooling a lot, that is the early sign to watch out when she feels unwell.

The color of a baby's poo could tell a lot of interesting information about the baby's well being. For example, my baby had Amoxillin for a week and then she had digestion problem, say. vomitting all her dinner at one night, and the day after, the color of her poo is kind of white which says that her tummy is fragile and plain and soft food should be given to her.

My baby also caught Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. She started drooling a lot, really a lot, needing to change a bib every other hour, for the two days, but she was active which did not give a feel that she was sick or she would be. Then red spots appeared around her mouth and the redness is like that kind of red when her skin gets allergic reaction to some tomato juice after her lunch, so still nobody was too alert by that. Until red spots appeared on her hands, did not the staff get alert immediately. Because this disease was very contagious, I had to bring her back home immediately. The doctor did not prescribe any medicine because  it is virus and there is not any medical cure for it. So she stayed at home for a week and fought against virus very hard. During this week, I remember that her appetite was poor and she wanted more sleep. After ten days, red spots around her mouth and hand were nearly invisible and then she was allowed to go back to the nursery. Luckily she did not spread it to other kids later.