Fifty Things to Remember

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I turned fifty today. Yay, me! Not really. Please do not leave me “Aw…Happy Birthday Karen!” comments because I will not pick you as my teammate when I play my next pick up game of shuffle board. Turning fifty is not really that great but what choice do I have? The alternative is not that much better. So instead of blowing out the million candles – I’m sorry, but that’s [...]

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Revisiting Favorite Korean Food Recipes

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My son came home for the weekend – a Fall Break for four nights over the Columbus Day Weekend. When the kid calls unexpectedly a week before the break, and says he wants to come home, you spend $400 and put him on the next available flight. At least, that’s what we did. And like any college kid, he wanted home cooked meals, every day. We didn’t go out for [...]

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I am one of the 100 women bloggers you should know

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Really. I am one of the 100 Women Bloggers You Should Know. That sounds really silly and braggy but that’s because I am. Bragging. That is. One of my Eco Etsy friends, Elizabeth from Yellow Finch Love, tweeted… Now, I have to admit, I thought, “Jeeez…did People magazine get a hold of one of my indecent pictures, again?” Not. Although, for a second, I did think “Crap! Elizabeth’s account was [...]

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Ten Years Ago on 9-11

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There is a saying in Korea, “In ten years, even Keum Gang San changes.” (The austere Gold River Mountain in North Korea) And a lot of things did change in the last ten years. Andrew is a sophomore in college and Emily has a driver’s permit. My brother doesn’t work in Wall St. area anymore and none of us visited the the 9/11 Memorial or have the strength to even [...]

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Penny de Los Santos: If you are not doing what you love, why not?

http://youtu.be/lBORwiZyUeY

Note: I did not use any photographs by Penny de Los Santos in this post as I respect her copyrights. I could have easily copied and pasted her works from the web but I wanted to give her the respect that she deserves. I hope that when you use materials from the web, visual or literary, you ask for artist’s permission and that you give them the well deserved credit. [...]

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Birthday Weekend

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It was Andrew’s 19th birthday weekend. Party time!! (Ugh, the banner did not come out so bright in this light.) I made a “Happy Birthday” bunting out of upholstery fabric stash I got for free awhile ago. (I should have made this long time ago!!) Emily baked his favorite – Strawberry Shortcake. I bought him some scratch off tickets and his first Lotto Ticket (I’ll let you know on Wednesday [...]

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I remember

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…when these two stood majestically. And they still remain in our memory. All those lost will not be forgotten.

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Respect

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…those who perished. …those who survived.

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ecokaren Blog Schedule

Life is unpredictable. I know you agree. But to help you with your need to “predict and control” your life, I am going to try to adhere to a blog schedule. Actually, it’s really to keep my scattered brain on check. So here is how ecokaren is going to roll here. Monday: Green Living or Frugal Living – just in case you haven’t noticed, these are categories on the right. [...]

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Decade in Review: 2000 to 2010

I remember the Y2K as if it was yesterday. Now, a decade later, without any sign of a duck tape nor from a bunker stocked up with emergency rations, I’m wondering where did the decade go? Is it really true that once you hit the big four “0″, the time flies twice as fast? My mom used to complain about that. She’d sigh and go, “Where did the time go?”. [...]

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Identity Crisis of a Pescatarian. A Pesca…who?

I am having an identity crisis at the age of forty nine. And it’s not about my ethnic background. It’s about what I eat. I’ve stopped eating meat since June and occasionally had seafood in settings where I cannot get any good vegetarian meals. So, I’ve been going around saying, “I’m a vegetarian”, and uncomfortably adding, “Oh, but I occasionally eat seafood.” *gulp* I always wondered how can I call [...]

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When it rains, it pours….

So Thursday’s morning didn’t start out like the  Maxwell House coffee commercial. No hot coffee percolating on the stove or the bright promising sun rising, waiting to bathe the world with goodness cheerful sunshine. No. This was how my day started and how I survived another day. I woke up to the Amazon’s story about it’s Pedophile’s “How-to….”.  I’m not even going to link it to anywhere because i don’t [...]

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The Perennial Chef

I recently wrote about my visits to local farms and a great gourmet catering/take-out spot in Bedford Hills, NY, called The Perennial Chef. I am so happy to share some great news with you…well, for me, anyway but maybe not so much for my family since this means I’ll be working more than my waking hours and not necessarily having the dinner on time and making them wrestle with dust [...]

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Trip Down South to Durham, NC

Just in case you were wondering what I’ve been up to, we went to visit Andrew at Duke in Durham, NC last weekend. It was the first time we saw him since we deposited him in Durham in August. It was great to see him flourish in his new home with his new family – a bunch of bright eyed, bush tailed teenagers who are confident on changing the world…as [...]

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I did it my way

We were ready to go to bed after a long day of shopping on Sunday to prepare Andrew for college. Last load of laundry was in the dryer as we were getting ready to go upstairs when the lights went out. Again. It was a little past midnight so I guess, it was, technically Monday morning. The Hubby was cursing something harsh under his breath, and Emily was complaining, “It’s [...]

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What would you do if you had less than five months to live?

That’s how long my elderly neighbor has to live – less than five months. She won’t celebrate Christmas this year. OK, so, I am being very blunt today and a tad bit cynical but if you are my facebook friend, you know what kind of a week I had. I don’t mean to start the weekend with this grim thought but let me tell you a little background on this [...]

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My 7 links challenge for Problogger

Today’s post is a blog related exercise that Darren Rowse of Problogger is challenging me to do. And I happily take on the 7 links challenge because he is a blogging genius who pushes me to continue to blog even if I hit a slump now and then. Anyway, the challenge he proposed this time was to look at my previous blog posts and come up with 7 links to [...]

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I am back!

I know I’ve been MIA sporadically since June but that’s just how it is when you have two teenagers with so many things to accomplish before deadlines (Andrew had to register for Fall courses by yesterday), doctors appointments (took both of them to an allergist yesterday while trying to register for Fall courses, literally, in the waiting room at the Doc’s), and secure summer volunteer work for the younger one [...]

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Waiting by the Sidelines

Andrew, We couldn’t be more proud of  your achievements and be more grateful to be part of your life. Stay as happy as you are, be as encouraging as you’ve been to us, and be the role model that everyone looks up to. ~mom and dad~ If you read my last post from two weeks ago (has it been that long since I posted? eeeek!), you’d know that my son [...]

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Will be back after this brief commercial…

No, I haven’t dropped off from the face of the earth. My son graduated from high school last Saturday (will post about that shortly) and have family from out of town visiting until 21st. I thought I was organized enough to schedule the posts before the big event but there were more cleaning than I anticipated (isn’t that the case, always? But I never learned.) There were some unexpected mishaps [...]

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My, so called, “Meatless Life”

I am an omnivore. I love medium- rare Fillet Mignon, crispy double-fried chicken, and any fish cooked in any fashion. But I love vegetables too. Give me a generous heap of sauteed any vegetables with a bowl of rice and I’m set for the course. But these clams made me re-think about eating animals that were once alive. I know what you are thinking. “Clams made you think about eating [...]

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Local Farmers Market Opens for the Season

Despite the oil spill in the Gulf, how top-kill method by BP failed to stop the gushing, and how the recent article said that organic is no better than conventional food – I felt GREAT this weekend. Why? My local farmers market in Pleasantville, NY opened on Saturday with a ribbon cutting ceremony and entertainment throughout the morning. It was great to see those familiar smiling faces of vendors who [...]

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Green Fatigue Part 1 – Anger

Anger I’ve been kinda down lately. There’s nothing optimistic about what’s been buzzing in my ears recently and humming incessantly inside my head, like an ongoing droning sounds of a dryer. I want this humming to stop so I thought I’d try the ranting therapy. I normally don’t rant – especially on weekends.  Mind you, I’m a hopeless, eternal optimist. Ask my hubby. But I feel like I have to [...]

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Should I continue Fabulous Friday Featured Seller?

I’ve been wondering this question for sometime now and figured I’d leave it up to my faithful readers. Being featured is really an honor. When a person asks me if she can feature me on her blog, I literally blush. I am so humbled by the fact that someone thinks I’m good enough to grace her pages with my work. And, since I know what goes into writing a piece [...]

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How to be prepared for an emergency

I thought I’d share some photos I took this past few days while Mother Nature pounded my area with some snow, wet snow, sleet, and winds. It eventually just snowed and snowed, non-stop, for hours. Big golf ball size fluffy flakes were coming down fast. It was the calm before the storm. I think the birds knew it. And as we feared, the power went out as heavy wet snow [...]

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What our grandmothers taught us

Erin Bried had many wonderful tips from grandmothers all over the country in her book “How to sew a button”. In my recent review of her book and giveaway, you commented on what you learned or wished you learned from your grandmother. This is a collection of what you said. My Grandma taught me how to cook. She was famous in her small town for her pancakes and butterscotch cream [...]

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Refresh button

I need to hit the “Refresh” button today. I made a new year’s plan to reorganize and de-clutter my life. But I’ve only been thinking about so many ideas and ‘to-do’ lists to organize that I have to sit and breath a little to figure out ‘how’ to tackle the plan. So this is a short- I mean, short – list of things that I need to organize. I am [...]

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Eczema and Food Allergy

As I said yesterday in my post, my daughter has been sick with a nasty cold since before Christmas. She’s been hacking away trying to cough up phlegm stuck in the middle of her chest, lying on the couch or in bed, just feeling miserable, and fighting occasional fevers and even hives from allergy to the cough medicine – nice, eh? There was nothing her pediatrician can give her for the [...]

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Call me Florence Nightingale

Where have I been? Being a nurse. My daughter has been sick with a bad cold since before Christmas. That’s twelve frigging days of coughing, fever, and even hives. Needless to say, I don’t have a minute to myself. She didn’t go back to school – two days in a row now – after staying in bed the whole holiday vacation. What a crummy way to be on vacation, heh? [...]

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A letter to 2010

Dear 2010, I have to say your predecessor 2009 was not so good to many of my friends and family. I am so glad he left and you are here to make things better for us. In light of the current situations all around us – the economy and the environment – I made some plans. Be more thrifty Eat simple foods and locally Give up bottled drinks, including juice [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving, I ask myself  “What am I thankful for?” And I come up with some lame corny things. But the truth is, I really am thankful: for my family, for my friends, for our health, that my family wants to eat what I cook, that they want to get together every year, that this year has gone by without any disasters in our lives, that despite the doom and [...]

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How to add Feedburner E-mail Subscription form

I posted about adding content titles to your posts for e-mail subscribers this week and I realized I was ahead of myself. Some of you didn’t know how to add the e-mail subscription form to your blog. There are alot of e-mail management companies that you can use – some are free and some are not. I like feedburner for the simple e-mail subscription feature. It’s up to you how [...]

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Summer of 2009

A collection of newly discovered nature’s beauty this summer.

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How my son’s desire to run the NYC Marathon determined my worth – Part III

This is the final part of the story and it’s a significant ending of the series because if it weren’t for his epiphany, I wouldn’t have trekked up to a small farming community in Geneseo, NY, and I wouldn’t have discovered this small but important organization called the Genesee Valley Conservancy (GVC). The Oak Tree Half Marathon and 5K was a fund raiser for GVS and let me tell you, [...]

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How my son’s desire to run the NYC Marathon determined my worth – Part II

Oak Tree Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk Since 2005, the Oak Tree Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk event has taken place in a beautiful setting of Geneseo, NY, all the while supporting the conservation efforts of the Genesee Valley Conservancy (GVC) and the Geneseo Central School Cross Country Team. This USA Track and Field certified course was on paved (60%) and dirt roads (40%) through the National Historic Landmark village [...]

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How my son’s desire to run the NYC Marathon determined my worth – Part I

Those of you who read about me, you know I stopped working so that I can stay home, to be available, for my family while my kids are still young. But, like all “stay-at-home-moms” who occasionally question their value, monetary or otherwise, I’ve had my share of days of questioning mine. I would wonder on those uncertain days, “Was giving up my career, in middle of my prime, a smart [...]

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‘Thank You’ Series – Market Copywriter

Yesterday was one week anniversary since my new blog posted here on Word Press and opened a second shop on Etsy. There were many reasons why I dreaded the task of  moving  and opening a second shop, as you can imagine. Then, how did I do it? Well, I couldn’t have done the bold move without the help of some amazing women who are not only successful at what they [...]

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Growing Pain

First all, thank you so much for visiting and leaving me your thoughtful and sweet messages. I smiled all day as I read each of them. Excuse me if I can’t respond to each individually. I have been painstakingly going over each post – 15 so far out of 155 – to make sure every ‘t’ is crossed and every ‘i’ is dotted. In between making announcements about the move [...]

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It’s Final!

Drum roll please….. My new name for the shop and the blog will be….. ecokaren www.ecokaren.etsy.com www.ecokaren.com It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Of course, I couldn’t have made this decision without your input. Ecokaren received most votes although there was at least one person for every name I listed in my first blog about this contest. I just want to say “Thank You” to all of [...]

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It’s very close…..

What do you think about the new title box above? It’s a toss up between that and this. Just wanted to update you. I’ll post my final decision on Monday.

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Domain name saga continues

I know today is Wednesday and I should be “Wordless” but this week is special as I am on a quest to pick a new name for my shop and my blog. After I posted yesterday, I thought about “EcoKaren.com” as a new possibility. I know it doesn’t say ecogeneration attached to it, but some of you mentioned that ecogeneration attached to another word might be too long. So what [...]

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Shop’s Domain Name

Is your shop domain name registered? Mine is not and even if I wan to, I can’t because someone else owns it. So…. I’m changing my identity – my on-line identity. These are the reasons why: I want SEO to be better for the shop and the blog. I want to keep my own domain name forever I want to self-register my blog and the shop without blogspot or etsy [...]

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Here are five more things about myself

6. I am a Chiropractor turned SAHM (that’s…Stay At Home Mom for those who are not into acronyms). I “retired” from practice to stay home with my kids when their school load started to get bigger and they started to fence (their choice of sport) more competitively. It was a very hard decision after all the schooling I’ve done to be a doctor. My son was six months old when [...]

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Ten things about myself…as promised.

I know. I slacked off. I was given two blogger awards by Life as we know it by Paula and LillyShayStyle about a month ago but I haven’t done anything with them yet. Why? That’s because I have to reveal 10 things about myself. (I think one of them was 12 but I rounded it down to ten- devious, I know.) Well, over the weekend, I was tagged by avlor. [...]

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Two features on One Day!

I am always so humbled when other bloggers mention my shop or my products. That usually indicates that they “notice” my creations. But I had a real surprise the other day when a fellow Etsian and a blogger, Amy, bought one of my organic washcloths and reviewed it on her blog! Amy from Avlor posted a great review and complimented the washcloth and I am blushing as I write this. [...]

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Great Week

This week was a great week for my blog. I received TWO awards from two great bloggers, Life as we know it by Paula gave me “the Honest Scrap Award” and LilyShayStyle gave me “One Lovely Blog Award” Paula is a scrapbook afficionada who makes pretty and unique scrap book pages and cards for her shop PJM Designs on Etsy. Her work is so lovely that I may start scrapbooking [...]

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Here is a tribute to all moms….especially my moms. My Mom….. too busy to be selfish, too considerate to turn the other way, too nice to say ‘No’, too confident to care what others would say, too sensitive not to cry, too compassionate not to rescue an animal, too thoughtful not to lend a hand, too independent to wait for help, too determined not to let her achy bones get [...]

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Eco-Friendly Shipping

In an attempt to make my shop appear little bit more quaint but eco-friendly, I decided to use stamped paper tags to attach to my items when I ship. But I didn’t want to order custom printed virgin or recycled paper tags that I’d have to reorder all the time. I wanted to use my own ink and stamp them. So I ordered a stamp from a shop on Etsy [...]

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Paperless Networking is Eco-Friendly

I like the fact that I don’t have to use paper mailings to market my Etsy shop. I like the fact that I don’t have to use ink to print the mailings. I like the fact that I can post photos instead of processing films. I like the fact that I can reach so many people without spending money on stamps. I like the fact that I don’t have to [...]

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Eco IQ Quiz

I thought this would start the week right……by taking a short pop quiz. Hold on, you’ll do fine. Besides, no one will know how you did. Take this short quiz to test your eco-IQ when it comes to buying and using environmentally friendly products. (Don’t cheat but the answers are below.) What makes the air in U.S. homes an average of 2-5 times more polluted than the air outside? A [...]

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‘Tag’ You’re it!

I don’t play ‘Tag’ anymore but I’ve been ‘Tagged’ in Blogsphere by kayskreationz. I had no clue how to play the game in Blogsphere but the rules seem simple enough. Spill some fun gossip about yourself, tag seven innocent bystanders and hopefully they do same. But seriously, this sounds fun though: promote yourself and do some cyber-networking at the same time. So, here goes. 1) I wish I was a [...]

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Being Optimistic in 2009

As we bring in the New Year, most people make New Year’s resolutions but regret later for making them or ignore them totally. Well, this year will be different for me. I made an attainable resolution and encouraged my family to do the same. Oh, and to have just one. My family’s resolutions are: 1) Be more positive – Me 2) Be less stressed – my hubby 3) Manage time [...]

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