creativity:: holidays:: natural toys

M and i have been trying to be less consumeristic (so hard!) and bring our lives back to basics. at the same time, we have been trying to fix up our home and purge our excess, so that we are left with things we love and use. and we would like for the items we love and use to be as natural as possible, especially when it comes to our kids.

with this in mind, we are going through the kids' toys (again) with a critical eye, removing more of the plastics (we already removed the ones known to be hazardous), and allowing in those that we are okay with.

this year, M and i are giving the kids basic, natural, and homemade toys and books. and we are involving lala in the process of creating finn's gift. the above photo is a pile of scrap wood from M's shop, soon to become a sack of blocks for finn, from lala. the simple process of it has been so fun for all of us!

SKM

happy first birthday little SKM!

(and happy 11 mo to my little guy. 11 mo!)

cloth diapers:: punkin-butt

a favorite sight: a pile of clean cloth diapers.
these are waiting to be stacked and put away on our free changing table.

i have posted about cloth diapers before (here and here). and i have even mentioned my favorite cloth diaper online store, punkin butt. i'm not sure how i found my way to them. i am not even sure what makes them my favorite. (there are a lot of great stores out there, but i have found what i wanted from them, with fabulous, personal, responsive customer service. they are a small, family/friend business.)

anyway, they are now offering a referral discount program. it works like this: i refer you to them. you make a purchase and you give them my code name. (post a reply with your email if you would like my code name.) you receive 10% off and i receive a 10% credit.

so, please, given that punkin-butt gift credit is on my holiday wish list, let's both save a little money! ask for my referral code name if you are a cloth diaper user or know someone who is!

obama

OH THANK THE GODDESSES!
hope remains.....

eta:
here in california, proposition 8 was on on our ballot. prop 8, if a yes passes, would ammend our constitution so that marriage is only between a man and a woman. as of this morning, the votes are still being counted, but the current count is just around 52% in favor of yes.

that means our constitution currently allows same sex marriage and a yes vote would mean you want to take away someone's constitutional right to be married. (meaning, this takes away a right that already exists, which is several steps beyond saying you just don't want that right to exist in the first place.)

a marriage is a legal contract between two people who love and care for each other. it affects no-one but that couple. (unless you count the children that that couple might have.)

it is beyond me why anyone would feel the need to control this. how does it affect my marriage if my gay friends want to get married? it doesn't!

and the argument that voting yes is "for our children" so they don't learn in school that gay marriage is okay? a family is any group of people who love each and want to call each other such. and voting yes and taking away someone's legal right doesn't make gay couples go away. it doesn't make their children go away. so those kids will be in school sitting next to your kids. and your kids will learn all about gay marriage and gay families anyway.

this got on our ballot.
this appears to be passing.
this hurts my heart.
and i have no idea what to say to my friends whom this directly affects. i am so sympathetic.

hope:: it changes nothing if nothing changes

please find your way to a voting booth today.
and no matter who you vote for, if you live in california, please vote NO on prop 8.

signed,
this obama mamma, hoping for change for the better


here is a joke, to keep you in good political humor, sent to me by MN via email:

DEMOCRAT

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.

You push for higher taxes so the government can provide cows for
everyone.

REPUBLICAN

You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST

You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST

You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE

You have two cows.
Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk
the other, and then pours the milk down the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are
surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the
analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and
produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give
excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour.
Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.


ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION

You have all the cows in Afghanistan , which are two.
You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private
parts.
You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives
to milk production but use the money to buy weapons.

IRAQI CORPORATION

You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

POLISH CORPORATION

You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.

BELGIAN CORPORATION

You have one cow.
The cow is schizophrenic.
Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish.
The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow.
The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk.
The cow asks permission to be cut in half.
The cow dies happy.

FLORIDA CORPORATION

You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally
vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think
is the best-looking cow.

CALIFORNIA CORPORATION

You have millions of cows.
They make real California cheese.
Only five speak English.
Most are illegal.
Arnold likes the ones with the big udders.

craving creation:: a mini blog and book review

i have been craving the feeling of making things, lately. anything. and with that has come a bit of a fascination with (a like/envy of, truthfully) the blog, soule mama. now, here is a woman who homeschools 3 children (i.e. they are with her all the time, no preschool breaks), is pregnant with number 4, yet still finds time (makes time) to not only make gorgeous things, but to also take gorgeous photos of these things, blog beautifully about it all, make enough crafts to sell, sell a lot, and write a book about it.

the envy part of my relationship with this blog?
ummm, did you read the above paragraph? seriously, though, a desire to understand, through at least a few of her tough moments (which she does not generally blog about), how she manages to do it all, and quite honestly, what steps she took to make her small business so successful.
i have read several comments in which she says her children work with her or alongside her, but i am still so curious, as we try this too, but my 4 year old really just wants my attention. on her. now. always.
i would love to feel the same level of calm soule mama portrays to her readers, always enjoy my kids as much as she seems to enjoy hers, and make a bit of money doing things i love, as she does! (and i don't. yet?)

the like part of my relationship with this blog?
it is a pleasant bit of eye candy for my day. i share a similar decorating style and love of nature and old things. i want to make the most of these brief moments with my children, both for my children and myself. and my envy has acted as motivation for me to make time (if nothing else) to be a little more creative, but mostly, has made me recognize just how creative we already are. i think i actually prefer the words inventive and resourceful (if i have choose!). i keep reading along, thinking, "hey, we do that, too!"
and in the same way i have to credit amy dacyczyn's the complete tightwad gazette in helping motivate me to thrift more, i have to credit soule mama with motivating me to pay closer attention to and emphasize a bit more focus on crafting for all of us.

so my fascination (and a bookstore gift card) led me to the purchase of amanda blake soule's book, the creative family. and honestly, i am digging it. that is, when i can get it away from lala. apparently, it is eye candy for preschoolers, too.


eta:
~please read comments for my clarification about this post not being a comparison of my blog to soule mama! also, read this post.

~also, after i posted this, i had my daily visit to soule mama only to read amanda blake soule has launched a new website, mama to mama, which begins with a request for knit hats to be added to kits for new mothers and babies in northern haiti. read more at mama to mama.

happy list

things that i am grateful for and getting pleasure from right now:

first rain of the season. i love the smell. i love the sound. i love every drop that helps relieve our drought. and i keep every homeless person close in my thoughts as i am so grateful for the roof over our heads.

the rain dance to accompany the first rains. and the happy girl doing the dance.


the hand knit sleep gown my mom made for my older brother when he was a baby. that it is still in the family. and my adorable baby boy who is currently wearing it.

my serger!

purging. i would love for our home to to finally hold only items we love and find useful.

the kick-off of the season of holidays. i love this time of year. it means family, celebration, traditions, festivity, warmth, coziness, giving, baking (YUM!), and so many more things to me.

already november?

today is the day of the dead! my mom took a cooking class with her friend in celebration and these are some of her creations.


halloween opens the door to the autumn/winter chain of holidays. halloween, thanksgiving, and christmas (the winter holiday that we celebrate) are all favorites for different reasons. i love the plain old fun of halloween, but the candy is a bit much for the mamma part of me (although the sweet tooth part loves it!). we gave away mini tubs of play dough this year. thanksgiving is one of the best simply because it is about gratitude and i am grateful for so many people and things in my life. i love the decorations, the colors, and the simple joy of togetherness. i am not big on the food, though. and christmas....in my family, we have some lovely, basic holiday traditions, which i love, love, love. i could happily skip the mass materialism, though. and when we now see christmas themed, well, everything, in the stores in october, one knows the materialism has gone too far.

so this year, i am determined that halloween has kicked off pleasure in all my favorite things about the holidays ahead and i will simply let myself (and our children) be as ignorant as possible to the materialistic parts.

happy halloween!

making ghosts

ghosts

our haunted home- grave yard fence and grave markers (free scraps given a new use), ghosts, cobwebs = M loves halloween!


and of course, our little gobblins.
lala is a cat and finn will be dressed as a bumble bee later in the day!

note: that roll of butcher paper was ~$30 at costco. the last roll lasted nearly 4 years and was $15. it has had so many amazing uses!

frugal friday:: 2:: october grocery spending

frugal friday

the ever challenged grocery budget. perhaps not a page turner for most of you, but i am a fairly frugal person and i am struggling with this, so if you are challenging yourself to economize your budget in any way, this might be an interesting comparison for you. if you have any suggestions for me, please comment! i would also love to know the size of your family and what you usually spend per month (and on what items). i generally followed the EWG's list for organic produce and i was wishy-washy about organic milk this month.

my october budget was $400.
my goal was $300.
the thrifty plan for an american family of our size is over $500.
this month was for 2 adults (it varies, actually) and 2 kids and included all household and health products and food.

i spent $425 even.

i am really disappointed that i didn't even meet my budget. we set that for a reason, so i need to be averaging the $400 on a regular basis. our overall spending in other categories was much lower, however, and part of the grocery money spent went to some health products that are healthier for us and the environment, will last a long time, and were a part of our budget i previously never spent money on due to free-after-rebate and coupon deals.

i learned a lot about myself this month. i really tried this time and really did challenge myself, even though i didn't meet my goals. i tried new recipes from scratch with foods on hand and i really needed to shop for produce earlier in the week put if off, simply because i wanted to meet my budget. so, clearly i need to be limiting more. i skipped temptations, so what you see listed below, even if many items don't strike you as necessary, are our basics (plus wine!). we ate out once as a family, which itself was very unusual, and i went out once with mamma friends. generally, any "special" meals generally come from our basic grocery budget as well.

listing out what we bought allowed me to mentally highlight the items that we could do without and all the items we should do without. although several of the items jump out as uneconomical (walnuts, wine, 7th generation diapers (we generally use cloth and could buy target brand for half the price), for example), i realize most of what we buy is extremely healthy and close to its original form. the most processed food we buy tends to be Os cereal. the most convenience foods we tend to buy are freshly frozen fruits and vegetables (with no additives).

going into november, my budget is now $375 (to compensate for the $25 overage) and my goal is still $300. i am less confident that i can meet this and some of the people in my life are quite doubtful, which, of course, only makes me more determined to meet it at least once! (insert a big stubborn grin, here!) i am now out of dry milk powder (first time since we married), and although i now know it is cheaper to buy fresh milk, quite a few recipes i use call for milk powder and it is good for shelf life, so i need to stock up. i ran out of fresh produce and and have a growing costco list....again.

$425 bought:
2 bars glycerin soap, tube unpetroleum jelly, tub oxo brite, large dr. bronners, 32oz lotion, 32oz shower gel, 19oz organic kids shampoo, 4 'green' lunch sacks, whole wheat tortillas, flour tortillas, 5 gallons milk, #10 can tomato sauce, 10lb sugar, 10lb carrots, 3 canteloupe, 3lb walnuts, 2lb organic spinach, 1lb blue cheese, 6lb mozzarella, 5lb monterey jack cheese, 2lb pecorino romano, 2lb cheddar, 4lb butter, 2 loaves whole grain bread, 6 brita water filters, 2lb frozen peas, 2lb frozen pineapple, 1 lb frozen mango chunks, 2lb organic tomatoes, 2 cans OJ concentrate, 4pk avocados, 11 bottles wine, boxes Os cereal, 40 bananas, container curry paste, 5 packages tofu, 1lb organic mixed lettuce, 1 large and 4 small pumpkins, 6+lb brown rice, 4 onions, sack organic apples, 6 organic potatoes, 1 bagel, 1lb organic strawberries, 10 dozen eggs, 1 pack lasagna noodles, 3 packs rotelle, 4 jars natural peanut butter, 1 sack rice crackers, 20lb whole wheat flour, 6 kiwi, 20 rolls toilet paper, 60 seventh generation diapers, 2 packages of lunch containers, fish tank filter, and ??? (i am missing a couple receipts detailing about $45 of the $425 that i spent!)

next step: update my price list to reflect the foods and products i like to buy now. (we buy more unprocessed, more wholesome, and more organic products than we used to.)

tagged!

okay, RGW tagged me, which means i have to share 7 things about myself you might not know:

1. i want a tattoo. at first, i thought it should say "b!t(h," but now i am thinking maybe a dragon fly. or something to do with our kids. eeyore and tigger? (okay, mom, take a deep breath, i know they are permanent!)
2. i hate that i talk too much. and i hate the word hate. (i love the word free, though.)
   
3. i absolutely adore milk chocolate hobnobs (what can i say? one nibble and you're nobbled) and am selfishly thrilled S is dating a native brit, who has kept my habit right on the edge. of course, any chocolatey cookie will do. i have a sweet tooth!
   
4. i am horribly indecisive. (but always well-meaning!)
   
5. it is a huge huge effort to practice what i preach.
6. i was a biology major in college, yet i can't remember science worth a crap and struggle to keep my garden going. (if only i had given myself time to choose a major that fit me instead of one that fell in line with the skills of the men in my family! ask me about money or home ec and i am your girl!)
   
7. i have been "planning to go back to school" for 8 years now. "soon."

i packed a few two or mores in one there. did ya catch that?

i now tag: welcome to our nest , jack, sara, and carocoknits. everyone else i know who reads my blog has been tagged already!

leaf

There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
~Albert Schweitzer

recycling for refashioning

i learned a new environmental R word recently: refashion. my definition is the re-use of some fashion item for a new fashion purpose. i know the concept personally, but the term was new to me.

i love this concept. i have previously linked to making kids' pants from an adult t-shirt and from adult sweaters. i have made shirts for myself from men's dress shirts.

carocoknits talks about deconstructing thrift store sweaters for "new" yarn to knit or crochet into something else

make a girls' dress from an adult shirt , a post from simple/green/frugal/co-op. here is the tutorial she used.

make a baby diaper cover from an old sweater!

how about a softie friend from a lonely glove?

the possibilities are endless!

on being a mom:: take 2

lala wanting to hold finn and make him feel better, but he just wanted mamma.

this weekend, i was scrolling back through old posts, looking for a particular post to link to. instead, i forgot what i was looking for, audibly began sighing at the sight of "older" photos of my kids, M scooted over to look, and we took a mini scroll down memory lane together.

generally, life is feeling more positive for me these days, but i admit that the improvements (noted below) around here haven't come naturally. they have been through my own efforts to be increasingly aware of my own fatigue, my kids' needs, and frequent reminders that i am the adult (despite my vow never to grow up, really).

in march, i posted about being a mom. my march mom post was only 7 months ago, but that is a long time in baby lives. in march, finn was 3 months old and lala was 3.5 yrs. now, we are rounding the bend on finn's first birthday, lala is now 4 yrs, and we are a week away from my first anniversary as a full time mamma. (and 'they' weren't clear in the job description that full time really meant 24/7!)

fundamentally, what i said back in march all holds true today. except one thing. i'm there.

i can count time-outs on one hand now and the hugs and kisses are free flowing.

around the 'net

• rockin' granola mom has a list of how to get more frugal today.
• sarah at blue castle has a recipe for homemade stain remover. i am thinking to try this based on her rave review, as my oxy clean isn't getting it done.
• i just discovered the blog, all buttoned up, which is sweetly written and has fun projects to boot. i love her letter keeper. she also has this creative onesie decorating idea.
  
• modish blog has tips on how to get your craft out there.
• cicada has this cute apron, using this pattern and tutorial.
• saturday's sf chronicle featured a host of money saving tips and a feature on growing your own produce.
• small notebook features articles on the difficulty of doing less and on how often to declutter. (ummm, constantly, around here!)
  

project scrapbook

i keep a scrapbook of, well, all sorts of things. i have hardcover lined book that came to me free due to the liquidation of office supplies from a business changing hands. and for several years now, i have pasted cut out photos and quotes from magazines, catalogs, and websites. the pictures are of rooms i like the style or look of, details i want to recreate, gardens i like, projects i want to try myself. my notes are everything from decorating ideas, to lists of things i could sew, crafty gift ideas, to plants i want to try in the garden. the only thing it doesn't include are meal recipes, which get cut and added to my recipe binder, preferably with photos to match!

i may never do many of these things, but just flipping through the scrapbook is somehow soothing. it is little pieces that reflect all the material things i find most pleasurable.

simplify!

simplify-look around-observe nature. see in nature the source of art, of craftsmanship of truth, of the beautiful.
~henry david thoreau

frugal friday:: 1

i have a had chance this week to just sit on the couch and think a bit. it has been so necessary just to slow down.

i have been thinking a weekly series of posts might be fun, so i am beginning with what i know and love and what might serve all of us best in this sad economy:

frugal fridays

i am going to begin by sharing today just some of the things we actively did this week that have saved us money.

• we baked (two types of cookies and 4 loaves of bread), made yogurt, and made meals from scratch, trying 2 new recipes using ingredients we already had.
• completed 3 more DIY projects for the house.
  
• i joined e-rewards through an invitation from upromise, and i completed several surveys for gift card rewards.
  
• we went out to a group family dinner, using a gift certificate from restaurant.com.
  
• we called to cancel one of our cell phones and instead, we were offered a buy-one-get-one-free (b1g1f) deal, so we still have our two phones, but at the cost of one (savings of $25/month).
  
• we worked on some homemade holiday gifts.
  
• we did some mending.
  
• we hung all of our laundry to dry.
  
• we accepted from others...we received a box of yarn, a tortilla press, and a pair of used robeez shoes for free on freecycle. we received a baby gate on loan.
  
• we used the library.
  
• we remembered to make coffee at home and bring it, instead of treating ourselves to a cup at the coffee shop.
  
• we made the coffee using our reusable coffee filter.
• we washed and vacuumed the car at home.
  
• M biked part way to work part of the week.
  
• we bathed the kids every other day, together.

in general, we have been brainstorming together how we can use less, make more for ourselves, and use what we already. you know that quote? use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without.

and how about we end the week with some freebies?

• free desk calendar for 2009
• printable notepads and labels

thursday

coloring cards for friends. note the recycled-dada-shirt smock. the cards are from the stubby pencil studio.

i just had the best date i have had in ages. with my daughter. (sorry, baby, but it was the best date, since it has been awhile since you and i had a date!)

thanks to an offer by L, J, and L to watch finn, lala and i had some much needed mamma-lala time. i took her to the dentist and then out to lunch.

the dentist, you ask? yes, her first visit, and given her personality, one i expected to go somewhat poorly. i give her too little credit. she was a star! and it did help to be finn-less, as she sat in my lap, in the dentist chair. (hence, i have no photos of the big event, but they took a grinning photo of the two of us for her office chart!)

and on to lunch...her choice. she behaved like such a big girl, and when she asked where the crayons were to draw with, i told her she didn't need them, since she and i were having a conversation, just the two of us. she beamed!

yesterday, well after i posted my self-depricating lament about, well, life, lala had 2 massive tantrums. one on the walk home and one in the middle of quiet time. to give you an idea of their painfulness, there is a woman who walks her dog on the route we walk home and twice now, she has turned around or moved to avoid us, because lala seems to have a reputation for melt down at about the same spot on a semi-regular basis. (if only i would remember eeyore and i were strong enough to carry 2 kids at once, we might head it off. yeah, right.)

the tantrum during quiet time was unescapable. she followed me out of her room, wailing. and i knew i needed to be away from her.

so, thinking back on our lovely tuesday and following it with a clingy wednesday, it was perfect to give myself to just her for a bit today. how do parents with large families give more of themselves, individually, to each child?

wednesday

i woke to the wonderful sound of wind. you know that gusty, warm, october wind, that makes the dry leaves in the trees crackle? the sunrise turned the sky pink and the day dawned to blue skies and that soft autumn light.

perfect.

and a perfect way to settle the crazies in my head that are restlessly rattling around. i have been feeling ambitious and thrilled by the challenges in my life right now: being a better mamma, economizing more, being more creative, learning new skills, caring better for my loved ones. i have been excited at all the things that come with autumn...preparing for cooler, wetter weather, but enjoying the "indian summers" we get in our area of the country.

but with all ambition, for me, comes the unsettling realization that i am not really good at any one thing. i do a lot, but i don't have even a single skill in which i excel. i have envy and admiration for several women (odd that they are all women?) touching my life right now, who are all at a similar place in their lives, with young children of their own. all of them are talented or educated in some way that makes them stand out. one is extremely smart and well spoken, one practices what she preaches and doesn't seem to have a care for what others think of her (and as a result, they only think highly of her, i am sure), one is artistic in so many ways, and so on. and all express themselves only gently with their children.

i don't like that when i reach the end of a day, it has been a good day if my tones and expressions have remained even throughout the day. shouldn't they be that way all the time? especially with my children.

wednesdays are my chore day, but here i sit, sharing this with you. i am now off to put clean sheets on our bed, because, really, there aren't many things nicer than crawling into a bed with crisp, clean, sheets, that smell as though they have been dried in the sun?

i forgot my camera

today, the kids and i were invited to a local state park for a grand adventure. it felt more like a vacation. this park is close and easy to access, but once in it, you feel like you are somewhere else. and although we didn't, i learned we could put our kayaks in for a paddle there. it was lovely. my dad rode his bike, while the kids, my mom, and i walked a bit. we then had a picnic by the water. lala tried skipping stones and we learned that finn has no fear and brimming with curiosity. he would have crawled right into the water, if given half a chance. even his big sister called for help, leaned her leg out to block him, and put her hand on his back. very sweet and mature for a 4 year old.

we got some adorable photos, but none on my camera because i left it sitting on the table! so, i share this one with you...my dad made a latte macchiato for me last week, which was so gorgeous, i had to photograph it. it tasted as good as it looked. it must be is la pavoni!

we need a name

M and i are thinking to join the ranks of etsy. we have often talked about trying to promote his woodworking and my eclectic crafts and develop a small business, but we are now feeling motivated to actually try.

would you help us come up with a name for ourselves? (a fictitious name for our business, that is.) we have a list of ideas, but want to hear what your ideas are!

we hope you will support us in this endeavor!

M's handiwork

i wanted to highlight just the tip of some of M's amazing handiwork. since we have owned this house, the only things we have hired out were 1) termite and dry rot repair work inside the walls, and 2) our deck,which was done by our friend (a contractor) and my brother, with some assistance by M. and those tasks were due to M's time limitation, not a lack of skills. i say that both to exemplify M's plethora of talents and to share the pride i have in how much we do ourselves. (i say we, because i help a lot. and while the DIY could be a frugal post in itself, this post is about M.)

perhaps in another post, i might go on a bit about all the construction/house work we have done, but as i say, this post is about M, so i wanted to share a bit of his woodworking.

he has turned bowls, made cutting boards, sushi sets, music stands, a bed, and endless tables of various types. shown above is our couch side table, made from an old wine barrel. his recycled wood crafts are by far my favorites. i have posted previously about the computer unit he made, the pottery barn style bookcase he made, and the barrister bookcases he refinished. you are one talented guy, M!

from my grandma

yes! this one is from my grandma! and just that fact makes that much more amusing to me. (and no, i am not mad at M. i rarely am. but i am learning to crochet!)

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything.

They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the

little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband

never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box,

but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.

She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box.

When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she said, "

my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue.

She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll."

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box.

She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving.

He almost burst with happiness.

"Honey," he said, "that explains the doll, but what about all of this money?
Where did it come from?"

"Oh," she said. "That's the money I made from selling all the dolls."

a week in the life

back when i participated in online forums, one of my silliest posts was my day in emoticons. the forum i loved most had a huge selection of smiley faces and so i posted all about my day using smilies. how about a more mature form of this? ali edwards proposes a week in the life...in photos. my version isn't quite what she suggests, but the idea is lovely.

these are snippets of our life from last week...

sunday: lala declared it tigger's (finn's "lovey")birthday. she even made him a rack of "cupcakes."

monday: we said a sad, slightly grumpy goodbye to S and finn helped me with the laundry. well, actually, he climbed into the laundry basket.

tuesday: i did some sewing today, and this time, lala asked me if she could sew too. here she is sewing a button onto some fabric.

thursday: miss now-one-year-old LMH joined us for some lunch and play time.

friday: the final weekday of a very quiet, at-home week. lala played doctor, i got a lot of "pokes" and i got "band-aids" to prove it.

saturday: we joined LMH's first birthday celebration at the pumpkin patch.

world food day

today is world food day. in a time when food prices are rising, incomes are steady or falling, and the economy is flailing, it seems particularly important to take notice.

what are they up to now?

she knows all, now. "i know. i know, i know!" she can go from gentle and sweet to tantrum in seconds, although perhaps that trait is decreasing a bit? she can whine with the best of them, but eeyore can soothe a lot. mamma's kiss doesn't always make an owie feel better anymore. she knows how to get a rise out of mamma and sometimes appears to take pleasure in doing so. she loves her little brother and looks out for him, but he is beginning to take notice and become a bit more hands on with things she would like his hands off of.



he is becoming a little person. he loves to explore. he has finally learned to crawl. he stands up and has now learned to sit down. he hasn't caught on to signing yet, so has discovered, with a little finn grin, that attempting to rock his chair until it nearly tips over gets mamma's attention. he cannot seem to put his cup down gently. chucking it across the room is more his style. he plays a flirtatious, coy game of peek-a-boo. and he has three teeth, with a fourth on its way.


and both of them are having a love affair with bananas. i cannot seem to buy enough.

financial festering

we've all be watching the financial markets over the last week. how can we not? even if we don't fully understand what is happening (i don't), i do know that what has occurred is unprecedented, and if it continues down a negative road, we could all be in serious trouble.

M has been worrying about the economy on and off for some time, but this past week has him very concerned. i feel a little at a loss of what i can do to be prepared for continued troubling times, so i fall back on what i know best: disaster preparedness (already a necessity here with natural disasters) and our budget.

here is my last post on budgeting. now, further into life on one income and immersed in a search for land to own, we are very aware of the distinction between current cash flow and savings.

we have always been good savers. we have worked from there to become better investors. so coming into a single income, we felt comfortable with our safety net. with a review yesterday of our most recent statements, our savings, which we have grown for various reasons (safety net, education, retirement, and desire to buy property), has taken a hit in this market (and that doesn't even include the dips last week). what has been a bigger wake up call has been our cash flow. although more frugal than most people we know, we are in need of further economizing, to make our daily budget work.

so we are left to decide: do we hold off on purchasing property in order to reserve more of what is left of our savings in case M loses his job? or do we purchase property as planned, as a (non-stock market) investment, at a time when prices are low?

and to loosen cash flow, we need to slash the budget again. we tackled that during a preschooler-less car ride this last weekend, came up with several areas to cut, including: cell phones, miscellaneous and gift spending (sorry, folks), groceries (obviously working on already), and our home (by limiting immediate projects to those we already have materials for, which will help reduce clutter, too).

for some reason, the conversation and M's worries switched me from dreading the challenge to renewed excitement. i made a list of my tasks for cutting the above items and pulled out two of my favorite basic, frugal, nutritious cookbooks (photo above) and started flagging recipes.

i will start where i can and hope if worst comes to worst, we'll spend the time together camping on a chunk of gorgeous land somewhere.

quick sew

for awhile (since she got this bike in february?), lala has been asking for a basket or bag for her little bike. after a ride with her bike-basket-adorned friend yesterday morning, she and i whipped one out. again, that free fabric from nunu comes in handy!

new on the 'net

• today is paddington bear's 50th birthday/anniversary. one of my childhood favorites!
• carocoknits bakes cupcakes right into an adorable set of free cups!
• crafting a green world is all about what it says...eco crafting! twice a month they invite us all to share our earth friendly crafts. there are some fabulous links!
  
• sarah at blue castle shares a recipe for homemade toothpaste
• please recycle shared a link to whip up, a craft blog i hadn't seen before. fabulous projects! check out this post for a link to free knitting patterns for babies. cute stuff!
• amy quarry of the front room has a tutorial on making cute kid pants from old sweaters and other recycled clothes projects.
  
• economical baby introduces us to happily frugal.
• RGW talks about greenwashing and explains how to make soap!
  

quilt give-away

lizzy anne is giving away an original quilt on her blog pigtails and snails. check it out!

6 more things i am loving right now

1. autumn. my favorite season.

2. our deck, the freshly mulched yard beyond, and autumn sunlight.

3. ikea bibs

4. my rocking chair. one of the few new pieces of furniture we own, a joint gift to me from M and S, after they got tired of my coveting it for over three years! i love love love love love this chair. and i will likely post about it again. and again.

5. my musicians. here is one of them.

6. freecycle (the rocking horse in the guitar photo and the mulch were both from FC, for example)

creative:: anytime

one of the things i have been working on these past few weeks is a better balance (not even sure that is the best word) within my own little life. my goal is to be a less grouchy, more fun mamma and wife, who is also filling a little bit of my own creative needs. so i have been working on more projects. not the house-needy kind (the list is still long on those), but the ones i feel good about: gardening, sewing, photo projects, cooking projects, etc. i even want to learn to crochet and/or knit. (and have a mom with crochet hooks to loan to me to get started! i should have had RGW teach me when i had the chance!)

and...drumroll...i am now the proud new owner of a serger! i posted a 'wanted' ad on a local buy/sell/give/get list and someone replied with a brand new one. i researched it and it generally got good reviews, so i own a new serger at less than half the cost if i had bought it on sale in a store! so now, i have to learn how to use it. this may take me awhile!

in the meantime, since i can't learn all of this at once, and what i do know and am creating right now is all being set aside for the holidays (so i cannot post about my creations), i leave you with etsy. may i find all that i desire on etsy to fill in the empty gift spots this holiday season.

one of my favorite scenes

i was telling a friend this morning, that, lately, one of my favorite scenes has been our dining room or deck table littered with art supplies, drawings, and various other creative tid bits. on the best of days, lala and i spend chunks of time sitting at one of these two tables, being together, but working independently, me with my paperwork, she with hers.

jon and kate plus 8

for months, multiple people have told us about the show, jon and kate, plus 8. so we finally queued the first season on netflix. all i can say is...i am ashamed of my complaints with two kids. sigh...

peanut noodles

honestly, i am not sure where i adapted this recipe from, but here is my recipe for peanut sauce. it goes well over asian rice noodles, regular long pasta (like linguine), or even over whole wheat pasta. i sometimes toss it with shrimp and i always toss it with mixed vegetables. (frozen vegetables are one of the few "convenience" foods i purchase. i buy large bags of them at costco and man, do my kids like their broccoli!) if you chicken or beef, those would taste wonderful with it as well. i often cook an entire pound of pasta and serve it over a couple of days with different sauces, this being one of them.

peanut noodles
1 clove garlic
2 T oil
1 T sesame oil
2 T rice vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1/2 C peanut butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 t red pepper flakes

blend in a food processor.

hands

another children's book review. hands, by lois ehlert. lala loves this one. i do too. not only is about working with one's hands and being artistic, but the dad is a woodworker and the mamma is a sewer and both parents garden. fits us just right.

hope and peace

Lotus flower photo by Abedan, Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries, found at www.writespirit.net

the lotus flower represents hope and peace, so i thought it appropriate for this post as i ponder over the future of our world and our country, leading up to the elections this year. i hope for peace. i hope for a world that is safe and fair and healthy and equal for my children.

and i wish we were closer to those hopes than we are. on npr's talk of the nation today, the discussion was centered around racism and how it plays into this presidential election. i cannot believe there are people who will not vote for obama because he is part-black. and yes, i can believe there are people who will vote for him simply because he is part-black. this is historic. we have only ever had white, male presidents. doesn't that seem wrong in the united states in 2008?

i hope i regain my faith and pride in our country and in americans. it has been awhile since i lost both.

and today...a very happy first birthday to LMH!!! may your future be as bright an equal as we adults can possibly make it for you!