ghosts of tiny sweaters past

Posted on February 27, 2009 - Filed Under making things | Leave a Comment

I’ve been clearing things out. And now that Sophie is five, I’m having to face that she is no longer my little baby. Sob! So, imagine my nostalgia when I ran across a box of the tiny sweaters I knitted when I was pregnant with her! I mean, when I was REALLY pregnant, so pregnant [...]

spring fever workout unplan

Posted on February 26, 2009 - Filed Under mayalife | 2 Comments

What is it about spring that makes me want to declutter my house, institute a budget, and lose 10 pounds?
Usually my Spring Fever is confined to a few weeks of activity, mostly centered around reading about decluttering, budgeting, and working out. In fact, one of my favorite spring activities is to eat junk food and [...]

happy birthday, sophie!

Posted on February 22, 2009 - Filed Under kiddo life | 5 Comments

Sophie turns 5 today. Wow!
I asked her if there was anything she remembered learning as a four year old, anything that marked being four for her, and she came up with this amazing list. The year Sophie was four she learned how to:

post on a horse and hold the reins with one hand

count to 100

snap [...]

cool felt picture fun for kiddos

Posted on February 19, 2009 - Filed Under making things | 1 Comment

Kids dig crafts. Want to hear that engrossed silence of kids making stuff? Here’s a quick and dirty project:
Get a stack of felt squares from a craft store and a bunch of scissors. Designate a few of the felts ‘backgrounds.’ You might be able to get a few stiff pieces for this. Set the kids [...]

can you not see that I’m driving?

Posted on February 16, 2009 - Filed Under writing | Leave a Comment

Here is a lovely, funny, inspired talk, given by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, on a healthier way to interact with creative life. I really, really needed this today, so thanks internet divas for sending it my way. And now I’m sending it to you.

Ole!

knitted purple furry monster felted ipod bag

Posted on February 14, 2009 - Filed Under making things | Leave a Comment

Okay, it’s really more of a purse that can also carry an ipod. But it’s more than that, too. It’s the bag I’m making instead of getting an expensive, spiffy, 2nd gen ipod touch. Like those periodic episodes in a woman’s life when a rush to have a baby (hormonal?) becomes oddly intense…and instead she [...]

confessions of a former knitter

Posted on February 10, 2009 - Filed Under making things | Leave a Comment

I was cruising the internet the other day, indulging in a little gizmo-porn, to be specific, a fantasy of getting one of the new, sexy, 2nd gen ipod touches. Drool, pant… Er…what was I saying?
Oh yeah. Porn.
Um, well, of course, ipods led to checking out ipod accessories, and that led to ipod cases, and somehow [...]

how to recycle oak flooring

Posted on February 7, 2009 - Filed Under alternative building | Leave a Comment

We floored the yurt with recycled oak flooring. We paid $800 dollars for 800 square feet of the stuff (its sells for $3-$5 / square foot, new), and since the yurt wasn’t ready for it, we lived in our old farmhouse with metal bound bundles of it filling our living room knee deep for about [...]

stokke chair review

Posted on February 6, 2009 - Filed Under kiddo life, reviews | 1 Comment

A friend of mine with a new baby was asking me what I thought about high chairs and I told her I would write a review on my blog. So here is my definitive opinion on high chairs:
They suck!
High chairs are incredibly ugly, plastic, huge, expensive, hard to clean, and you only use them for [...]

conversation at breakfast

Posted on February 5, 2009 - Filed Under kiddo life | 1 Comment

Luc: You know, Mommy, there’s not just the Green Incredible Hulk.
Me: Oh?
Sophie: Well, yeah, there’s Grey Hulk.
Luc: No. No. Mommy. Mommy, [mischievous grin] there is also the RED Hulk.
Me: [eating toast] Red hulk?
Luc: Yes. Yes. FIRE Red Hulk. He can walk on lava.
Sophie: [Liking the sound of this] That’s right. He can walk on lava [...]