Here is an article from the NYTimes about the purchase of Burt's Bees by Clorox. I also found out in the article that Clorox owns Hidden Valley dressings, Glad trash bags and Brita water filters, of all things. 84% of Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate-Palmolive.
Yes, I'm happy that Clorox is going to try and green up a bit. I just think that things that are sold should have a provenance or something so we know who is ultimately going to profit by our purchases.
I'm still sick and I think it makes me crankier than usual.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
Ugh
I spent last night either freezing because of chills or sweating through my pajamas. Having a fever sucks.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
A bit superstitious
I'm a bit of a superstitious person. Superstitious may not be quite the right word. I've started making coffee again at home, which involves warming up a bowl of milk in the microwave until it is quite hot and then pouring an equal amount of french-press coffee into it. Every once in a while I heat the milk too much and a bit of skin forms. On New Year's Day when I poured the coffee into the milk a small heart shaped bit of milk skin was floating on top of my coffee. It is a little thing that means nothing, and yet it made me happy and I think of it as a good omen for the year.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
It isn't flattering
I was just over at one of my favorite blogs and the author wrote about the terrible time she has had over the last couple of weeks. She prefaced it with her thought that personal whining is annoying and unflattering. I have definitely taken to personal whining on here lately. Crafting has fallen off, and I don't carry a camera around with me. I've thought about trying to have a beautiful, peaceful blog like Little Jenny Wren or Love Forever or Ann Wood, but I am not those people and I don't have their lives or outlook. Please understand that I am not badmouthing the person who said she didn't like personal whining, I completely agree with her.
I am exceedingly happy about something today. First the sad part, my sewing machine died in November. It is a Pfaff 130, an heirloom from my grandmother. It came with the original warranty card with her signature and the date of purchase, June 1, 1954. I was so sad when it died. Most of the gifts I had planned to make for Christmas required sewing. The person who came out to service it last year said that it wasn't really worth fixing and that once the motor went it would be history. I had him go ahead and service it, replace the foot pedal, and the cord because the insulation around the wires was cracked. It all cost in the neighborhood of $200. Ouch. So when my well loved machine stopped, I was sure that it was beyond help. Today I wandered into a sewing machine store to get an idea of the cost for a new machine. They wanted to sell me something that looked very nice for $800. I do not have money like that sitting around. On the way home I passed by an old sewing machine and vacuum repair shop that I have passed a million times. I decided to call. I told the man everything about how it was old, and I thought it was the motor, and that the last technician said that it was not salvageable, etc. He laughed. He said that this machine is one of the most indestructible ever built and that getting a new motor was not a problem. He then asked me if the person who had worked on my machine before was so-and-so. I said yes. He then told me about some that persons questionable business practices. Oh, and the quote for repairing the machine this time is $79.
Here is a representation of my 30lb black beauty. I will take many pictures of her when she comes home.
I am exceedingly happy about something today. First the sad part, my sewing machine died in November. It is a Pfaff 130, an heirloom from my grandmother. It came with the original warranty card with her signature and the date of purchase, June 1, 1954. I was so sad when it died. Most of the gifts I had planned to make for Christmas required sewing. The person who came out to service it last year said that it wasn't really worth fixing and that once the motor went it would be history. I had him go ahead and service it, replace the foot pedal, and the cord because the insulation around the wires was cracked. It all cost in the neighborhood of $200. Ouch. So when my well loved machine stopped, I was sure that it was beyond help. Today I wandered into a sewing machine store to get an idea of the cost for a new machine. They wanted to sell me something that looked very nice for $800. I do not have money like that sitting around. On the way home I passed by an old sewing machine and vacuum repair shop that I have passed a million times. I decided to call. I told the man everything about how it was old, and I thought it was the motor, and that the last technician said that it was not salvageable, etc. He laughed. He said that this machine is one of the most indestructible ever built and that getting a new motor was not a problem. He then asked me if the person who had worked on my machine before was so-and-so. I said yes. He then told me about some that persons questionable business practices. Oh, and the quote for repairing the machine this time is $79.
Here is a representation of my 30lb black beauty. I will take many pictures of her when she comes home.
Happy New Year
I've been making a couple of lists lately. One is a list of things I would like to do/have/be in the future. I made a list several years ago and did/had/was a lot of the things on it. I'm not too keen on making resolutions as they seem almost made to be broken. Fiona and I worked on two lists today of things we like to do and places we like to go. On Friday we will go to the craft store and buy some card stock and brads so we can make a couple of spinning wheels that will have the list of things written around the edges. The idea came to me when I was thinking how some days I don't want to play princess for the 10,000th time that day, but I can't think of anything better to do. A friend recommended that I make a wheel of things that she can do by herself, when I am unable to or disinclined to play.
It has been a stressful month/month-and-a-half. There have been many nights when I've seen the clock tick over to 3AM. I received a prescription for Xanax about a week before Christmas. It helped me fall asleep perfectly. I also realized that I am a light sleeper. It wasn't until the second day that it dawned on me that I hadn't woken up when the cats climbed on me, or when I turned over and dislodged one of the cats, or when the dog scratched, or when my daughter cried out in her sleep (I know this sounds terrible, but it happens every night between midnight and 2AM, she has night terrors), or when my daughter climbed in bed with us. It has been amazing. I've actually woken up after eight hours of sleep and felt like getting out of bed. So, we are making changes, because I obviously can't take the medicine for ever. The cats are now shut out of the bedroom at night. It makes me sad, because I have loved having them with me. One would sleep between my feet and the other on my hips. We put a new door handle on the bedroom door, so that Fiona can open it without a lot of noise. We took the collar off the dog. I'm going to look into getting one that has the name and phone number stitched into the fabric of the collar. Of course none of this deals with the initial insomnia that I've had trouble with, but I've been visiting with my therapist rather frequently lately and things in general are doing a bit better.
I found this article on the New York Times* to be interesting. It is about how people deal with regrets.
I found this article on the New York Times to be utterly distressing. It is about companies creating virtual worlds for children to visit and pay money for etc, online. It makes me think of the writings of Neal Stephenson and William Gibson.
Here is a bit of fun. You can make a South Park character that looks like you. Here I am. My husband says the expression is just perfect, but that is only because he constantly says things that make me roll my eyes.
* If you don't have a login for the New York Times and it asks for one, you can use craigslist for both the ID and the password.
It has been a stressful month/month-and-a-half. There have been many nights when I've seen the clock tick over to 3AM. I received a prescription for Xanax about a week before Christmas. It helped me fall asleep perfectly. I also realized that I am a light sleeper. It wasn't until the second day that it dawned on me that I hadn't woken up when the cats climbed on me, or when I turned over and dislodged one of the cats, or when the dog scratched, or when my daughter cried out in her sleep (I know this sounds terrible, but it happens every night between midnight and 2AM, she has night terrors), or when my daughter climbed in bed with us. It has been amazing. I've actually woken up after eight hours of sleep and felt like getting out of bed. So, we are making changes, because I obviously can't take the medicine for ever. The cats are now shut out of the bedroom at night. It makes me sad, because I have loved having them with me. One would sleep between my feet and the other on my hips. We put a new door handle on the bedroom door, so that Fiona can open it without a lot of noise. We took the collar off the dog. I'm going to look into getting one that has the name and phone number stitched into the fabric of the collar. Of course none of this deals with the initial insomnia that I've had trouble with, but I've been visiting with my therapist rather frequently lately and things in general are doing a bit better.
I found this article on the New York Times* to be interesting. It is about how people deal with regrets.
I found this article on the New York Times to be utterly distressing. It is about companies creating virtual worlds for children to visit and pay money for etc, online. It makes me think of the writings of Neal Stephenson and William Gibson.
Here is a bit of fun. You can make a South Park character that looks like you. Here I am. My husband says the expression is just perfect, but that is only because he constantly says things that make me roll my eyes.
* If you don't have a login for the New York Times and it asks for one, you can use craigslist for both the ID and the password.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Prototype gift tags
I spent this evening working up some rough prototypes for gift tags to make and hopefully sell. I'm sorry the pictures aren't great, but I think the tags came out well.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Matchy-matchy nerds
My husband took the nerd test from the post below. We scored exactly the same except that he is slightly less nerdy than me when it comes to History/Literature (91% vs 99%). The funny thing about his Computer/Technology score is that he works for a software company, doing computery things all day. When he comes home he often does computery things until bedtime. I think if our friends had to choose who was most nerdy they would definitely choose my husband over me any day.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Uber Cool Nerd Queen
Yes, I'm even more than just a vocabulary nerd. According to this incredibly accurate test, I shall henceforth be known as Uber Cool Nerd Queen. I found this on The View from Elsewhere.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Am I insane? Maybe.
So, back in October I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Amazingly enough, I have a plot/story that I think will work. I haven't told any of my friends, because there is a sense of a lot of pressure around trying to do this. Now that I have posted about it, everyone will know. It was killing me not to say anything, but I've been really nervous just thinking about talking about it with anyone. I also put off actually starting to write until today. So far I only have 547 words, so I only have to do what I did tonight slightly less than 100 times in the next 25 days and I will have won. Even if I don't win, I will have a lot written. I'm glad I signed up.
I am a vocabulary geek
A friend sent this link to me the other day for Freerice.com. It is a game or a quiz, I guess. For every word that you correctly define, via multiple choice, they donate 10 grains of rice. The words are ranked into different levels. I made it up to level 50 a couple of times but seemed to mostly bounce around from 44-47. I loved it and played it way, way too long. I hope you have fun with it, too.
Accidental re-lactation
This is the weirdest thing. About three to four weeks ago I started watching a friend's four month old baby, one day a week for five hours. Last week I noticed my breasts felt kind of achy. I thought, oh, it's my period. Sensitive breasts aren't usually my problem, but it does happen every once in a while. I kept feeling hungry, even after a big meal. I watched the little boy on Friday. Friday night I went into my daughter's room to lay down with her and rub her back until she fell asleep, and I had a let down!!! I couldn't believe it. I haven't nursed her since April of this year. I couldn't hand express at all for the last several months that she was nursing. Sure enough, after she fell asleep I got up and went and tried to hand express and there was colostrum. I looked around online and couldn't find any non-nipple-stimulation instances of re-lactation. Hopefully the little let down feelings I'm having and the fullness will go away after a while. What amazing things our bodies are.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Slipping
My organization is slipping. I haven't done my weekly shopping this week, and only did a partial trip last week. I've gone to Starbucks several times in the last couple of weeks. We ordered pizza last week. Aaaahhh. It is ok. A little stumble and I know that I can recover.
One of the things I've been concerned about with having the thermostat set at 60° F is having mold/mildew grow in our bedroom. It is the coldest room in the house and it has the worst air circulation and we spend a lot of time in there. So, it has started already. I'm going to kill it with bleach and paint over the area with some left over Kilz paint and see what happens. I should also search around online. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.
One of the things I've been concerned about with having the thermostat set at 60° F is having mold/mildew grow in our bedroom. It is the coldest room in the house and it has the worst air circulation and we spend a lot of time in there. So, it has started already. I'm going to kill it with bleach and paint over the area with some left over Kilz paint and see what happens. I should also search around online. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Top 106 Unread Books from Library Thing
I found this meme at Pretty Good on Paper.
It’s another book meme which lists books tagged as unread in Librarything. Bold what you have read, italicize your DNFs (did not finish),strikethrough the ones you hated, and put asterisks next to those you read more than once.
It’s another book meme which lists books tagged as unread in Librarything. Bold what you have read, italicize your DNFs (did not finish),
Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
*Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
*Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
*Pride and Prejudice
*Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
*Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury tales
The Historian
*A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
*Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
*Sense and sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's Travels
Les Miserables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
* Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
*The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
*Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
*Watership Down
Gravity's Rainbow
* The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers
Hundred Books Meme
My husband mentioned this meme to me. I'm a sucker for memes and books, so I had to find it. I did a Google search and grabbed this from the first result.
The idea is to review this list of 100 books, then mark all the ones you have read in bold, all the ones you want to read in italic, and leave the rest unchanged.
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
If you would like to do this meme please do and let me know, because I find it so interesting to see what is on someone's bookshelf so to speak.
The idea is to review this list of 100 books, then mark all the ones you have read in bold, all the ones you want to read in italic, and leave the rest unchanged.
1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
If you would like to do this meme please do and let me know, because I find it so interesting to see what is on someone's bookshelf so to speak.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Out sick
Ugh. Back to back illnesses. I'm feeling better though finally. My sinuses began to feel bruised on Saturday and I thought that surely antibiotics were in my future, but I visited a new naturopath and she dispensed some herbs/supplements and sold me a neti pot. I've done nasal irrigation before, but the pot makes it easier.
My hold for Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning by George Monbiot arrived at the library. I'm going to finish a couple of other books before I start reading it though. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan is a very good, but very disturbing book. Here are a couple of statistics that shocked me. One-third of American children eat at a fast food restaurant everyday. Fifteen to thirty percent of feedlot cows sent to slaughter have abscessed livers. Just as a reminder, "[The liver is] like a factory that makes vital substances (such as albumin and factors that help with blood clotting). It cleanses the body of toxins and bacteria. It produces bile that helps digest food. The healthy liver also gathers and stores important substances for your body to use later, such as sugar and vitamins." via USDVA
My hold for Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning by George Monbiot arrived at the library. I'm going to finish a couple of other books before I start reading it though. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan is a very good, but very disturbing book. Here are a couple of statistics that shocked me. One-third of American children eat at a fast food restaurant everyday. Fifteen to thirty percent of feedlot cows sent to slaughter have abscessed livers. Just as a reminder, "[The liver is] like a factory that makes vital substances (such as albumin and factors that help with blood clotting). It cleanses the body of toxins and bacteria. It produces bile that helps digest food. The healthy liver also gathers and stores important substances for your body to use later, such as sugar and vitamins." via USDVA
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Ball gown gloves
That's what she said they were. She was playing with her ink pads and stamps. It goes all the way up to her elbows. No, that is not a bruise on her face. Maybe she will be a make-up designer for the movies?
Friday, September 21, 2007
Riot to Austerity
I realize I've never really talked about this group on the blog. It is a Yahoo group of people who are working towards reducing their impact on the Earth. The goal is to take what the average citizen of their country uses and cut back on that by 90%. The idea comes from a man named George Monbiot and his most recent book Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning.
When I first read that the people were cutting back 90% I thought, wow, they are amazing, it's too bad I can't join, because I would never make 90%. I kept reading some of the blogs of the participants (Casaubon's Book and green with a gun and Simple Living) and then I went and checked out the group page. It is for everyone who is willing to try reducing, even if they know that for whatever reason they won't make 90%. I decided to join. I love reading the messages that come through on the board. It is a great community with lots of wonderful ideas. I've learned quite a bit. There is an intro, a faq and rules for the Riot to Austerity on the Simple Living blog. Just take a peek, come on, I know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it. : )
When I first read that the people were cutting back 90% I thought, wow, they are amazing, it's too bad I can't join, because I would never make 90%. I kept reading some of the blogs of the participants (Casaubon's Book and green with a gun and Simple Living) and then I went and checked out the group page. It is for everyone who is willing to try reducing, even if they know that for whatever reason they won't make 90%. I decided to join. I love reading the messages that come through on the board. It is a great community with lots of wonderful ideas. I've learned quite a bit. There is an intro, a faq and rules for the Riot to Austerity on the Simple Living blog. Just take a peek, come on, I know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it. : )
Rioting to Austerity
I am so happy! We got our electric bill that covers the last two months. We only used 212 kWh per month!!! Last year at this time we used 427 kWh. It is sooo nice to see some pay off for all of the changes we are making. The biggest changes were 1. using the drying rack instead of the dryer, 2. using a laptop instead of a desktop computer, 3. unscrewing all redundant light bulbs (our bathroom fixture has 6 bulbs and I unscrewed all but three then unscrewed all but one).
Gotta run!
Gotta run!
Sittin' on the sofa with Fiona
Fiona: Mama, are you going to die soon?
Me: What? No. Most people live until they are about 80 years old. Do you know how old you will be when I'm 80? You'll be 47! Why do you ask?
Fiona: I just wanted to know if you were going to die soon.
----------
Oh my goodness.
Me: What? No. Most people live until they are about 80 years old. Do you know how old you will be when I'm 80? You'll be 47! Why do you ask?
Fiona: I just wanted to know if you were going to die soon.
----------
Oh my goodness.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
My first from scratch softie!
A little lion in the tall grass.
Even though it has a wonky arm, it is quite special to me. I was rather frustrated with it when I had trouble with the arm, but as I was stuffing it I really had a sensation like it was coming into its own, almost coming alive if you will.
I made it for a friend's daughter for her first birthday. When Fiona woke up this morning and saw it, she was very excited and then very upset. She thought it was for her. She insisted that I make a different one for the one year old and that this one be hers. I promised her that I would make her one just like it. She said to make sure it had one short arm. That made me feel better about the arm. I think I sewed the wrist a little too tightly and I just couldn't turn it right-side out for the life of me. The little arm is kind of hard, because all the fabric is bunched up in there. It will be a perfect little teething lump.
Goodness, what a proud doll-mama am I.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
