i think santa might bring me a fish this year

because i have been really wanting one for a long time. a betta. a girl betta. (because for some reason they are cheaper?) in a bowl with some sort of mesh lid on top so that the cat won't eat it. brian keeps nixing the idea, has for years, but a fish is so innocuous, and i almost bought one today when i saw how cheap they were at petco when i was getting kitty litter. all things considered it would only be like $20-25 to kit it out.

i'd name her finley. i love that.

she might mysteriously show up under the tree. or maybe in my stocking. would that be strange to find a fish in my stocking?

giveaway!

sorry, it's not mine. but! i thought i'd send kelly some blog love. she's finally back after a busy summer, so go check her out. while you're there, don't forget to enter her giveaway. she's giving away two beautiful, handmade reuseable shopping bags, so go visit!

rockpaperscissors giveaway

rockpaperscissors GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! over at grosgrain. how cute would the wedding dresses invite be for alice's bridal shower? (invites are my responsibility.) love them.

green birthday/earth day giveaway winner!

happy birthday to me! thanks to those of you who participated in my green birthday giveaway. and the winner is... sherry at this young house! sherry, send me your address so i can pop your prize in the mail to you (i'm assuming the "mommy" prize, as you have no babies yet?).

again, thank you to everyone who participated. i actually really enjoy doing these giveaways, so hopefully i will come up with an idea for another one (and the time to do it after the kiddo comes) soon.

random things i am learning lately

don't forget to enter my green birthday giveaway! you have until 8pm pdt on wednesday, april 29, 2009. it's awesome, and who doesn't like free?

- cats have no eyebrows, which is why they seem so inscrutable sometimes.

- the "bcbg" (as in bcbgmaxazria) stands for bon chic, bon genre, how yuppies were referred to in france back in the 1980s. bon chic, bon genre means "good style, good class."

- king abdullah of jordan likes riding motorcycles!

- there is no universally agreed-upon plural for the word platypus. scientists use platypuses or just platypus. platypi is often used colloquially though it is considered "psuedo-latin" and the word is actually from the greek; the greek plural would be platypodes.

- compote is very similar to jam, but it is cooked with less sugar and the fruit generally retains it's texture and consistency.

- about mortise and tenon joints in particular and joinery in general. in a completely academic manner, of course.

green birthday/earth day giveaway!

i really liked doing my blogiversary giveaway last month, so this month i'm doing a birthday giveaway! (and it's earth day today!) (and it rhymes!) (my birthday is on friday, may 1, the day the giveaway winner will be announced. just in case you want to send me one of these nifty new paddles for my mixer. i have a 4.5 quart kitchenaid stand mixer. i'm just saying.) this is a fabulous prize, if i do say so myself. i would love to win it, so i hope you love it too:


the green baby giveaway includes two bars of handmade soap (lavender & tea tree and lavender buttermilk castile), two push sticks of bum (diaper) cream, a pot of nipple cream, five cloth baby wipes with wipe solution, dusting powder, lavender ooh lotion, and a lavender oatmeal milk bath for mom to soak those long days away. (see how naive i am still, to think mom will have time for a bath?) if you don't have a baby or don't want the baby giveaway, that's okay, you can still enter for a green mommy giveaway. i'll substitute a stick of massage cream for the bum cream, lip balm for the nipple cream, a gentle face scrub for the wipes, and a gentle face toner for the wipe solution. see below for a full list of ingredients in case you're concerned.

to enter, please leave me a comment letting me know which giveaway prize you would like (mommy or baby) as well as a random interesting factoid about yourself. for example: my random interesting factoid is that i make soap! if you don't leave a factoid, you won't be entered, so please don't forget that part. please also leave me your email address (feel free to munge it) so i can get in touch with you about sending you your prize. you have until 8pm pdt on wednesday, april 29, 2009. i'll plug the results into random.org and post the winner on my birthday, may 1. i'll mail anywhere in the good ole us of a or canada so if you're out of the country (besides canada), i'm sorry, but you can still have the satisfaction of having won and i'll choose another winner. there will be only one giveaway prize.

here are the ingredient lists for the giveaway items. please note that you do use these at your own risk; i have tested everything on myself, my husband, friends and family (but not my cat) and found it to be safe to us; the ingredients in the nipple balm are all food-grade and were approved by a lactation consultant. however, i can't be liable for your health or safety. i make every effort to create a safe, gentle, reliable product, but i can't be responsible for any allergic or otherwise adverse reactions you may have. by entering the giveaway and accepting the prize you agree that i am not responsible for the use or misuse of these products or any illness or injury caused by them, however unintentional.

lavender & tea tree soap: olive oil infused with lavender buds, slippery elm bark, and yarrow; coconut oil, corn oil, water, sodium hydroxide, shea butter, lavender essential oil, and tea tree essential oil.
lavender buttermilk castile soap: olive oil infused with lavender buds; buttermilk, water, sodium hydroxide, stearic acid, lavender essential oil, and pink oxide.
bum cream: soybean oil with vitamin e, calendula oil, shea butter, coconut oil, zinc oxide, beeswax, lavender essential oil, and tea tree essential oil.
massage cream: soybean oil with vitamin e, calendula oil, shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, sandalwood essential oil, and lavender essential oil.
nipple cream: grapeseed oil, coconut oil, and beeswax.
lip balm: soybean oil with vitamin e, calendula oil, shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, lavender essential oil, tea tree essential oil, and peppermint essential oil.
cloth wipe solution: water, aloe vera gel, calendula oil, distilled white vinegar, germaben ii (propylene glycol, diazolidinyl urea, methylparaben, and propylparaben), lavender essential oil, and tea tree essential oil.
face scrub: baking soda, kaolin clay, water, phenonip (phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben, and propylparaben), lavender essential oil, and tea tree essential oil.
face toner: water, aloe vera gel, witch hazel, distilled white vinegar, phenonip (phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben, and propylparaben), lavender essential oil, bergamot essential oil, and tea tree essential oil.
dusting powder: cornstarch, arrowroot, kaolin clay, lavender buds, and calendula petals.
lavender ooh lotion: water, olive oil, honey, emulsifying wax, stearic acid, soybean oil with vitamin e, calendula oil, shea butter, germaben ii (propylene glycol, diazolidinyl urea, methylparaben, and propylparaben), citric acid, and lavender essential oil.
lavender oatmeal milk bath: nonfat milk powder, rolled oats, lavender buds, chamomile, baking soda, sandalwood essential oil, and lavender essential oil.
cloth baby wipes are 100% cotton.

please note that both germaben ii and phenonip are both paraben preservatives. parabens have a very long history of safe use in all kinds of cosmetic products and are approved by the fda in usage rates up to 25% of total weight. preservatives are needed in any water-based "concoction" to prevent microbial growth and other nasties. my usage rate is approximately 1% of total weight. i cannot make lotions, scrubs, or toners without preservatives, so if you oppose the use of parabens or preservatives in your care products, please do not enter the giveaway. if you would like more information about germaben ii and phenonip, please click here. for more information about the safety of parabens, please click here.

blogiversary giveaway winner!

happy blogiversary to me! (it's today.) thanks to those of you who participated in my blogiversary giveaway. surprise, this is what the giveaway cozies turned out like:


in the yellow daisy one i made for myself, i just interfaced the two pieces with a super-sturdy interfacing to "insulate" the cozy. it worked fine but let through a bit more heat than i think would be practical. these two i lined with a piece of felt so they ought to keep your hands from getting burned a bit better than interfacing would.

my random winner for these (as well as a $5 gift card to starbucks, so you can actually use them) is kelly! kelly, email me your address so i can pop your prize in the mail to you. everyone else, pop on over to her fabulous blog and check her out. and check back with me in a couple weeks, i liked hosting this giveaway so much that i want to do another one. that one will be around my birthday (may 1) so check back before the end of april to enter that one.

blogiversary giveway!

don't know if i should have celebrated my 100th post but i didn't. so, i'm celebrating my one-year blogiversary. and because you are all so sweet to me with your comments, i'm going to be sweet to you with a giveaway. i have found i really love blogging, even if it is just random things that are of no interest to anyone but myself. even if i have a "loyal" following of about three people. i really appreciate that you are reading this and the comments i get are very encouraging to me. not just encouraging like hey, your sewing is nice or have a great day, but also encouraging to know that occasionally, there are other people in the world who notice my blog and take the time to let me know that something i wrote interested them in some small way. so, thank you.

a little background: i try to be a socially and environmentally responsible as i can be, but let's face it, i'm probably just like a billion other people out there. i'm not changing my life or turning my world upside-down to do so. i admire people who do because i just don't have that kind of energy or passion for that cause. i don't have the money to be able to consistently make socially responsible choices, which means even though i detest wal-mart with a passion because of their business practices and the way they treat their employees, i occasionally buy a cd there. (don't get me wrong - i don't make a habit of shopping there. our wal-mart is pretty grungy, for starters.) i recycle all our cans and bottles and newspapers and tin foil and yogurt containers, pretty much anything that has a recycle sign on it, but i'm not great at re-using. we are slowly switching to cfls. i bring my own bags to the grocery store. i try to line-dry as much as possible to save energy but brian complains bitterly about "crinkly" shirts so i certainly don't line-dry as much as i could or should. i like supporting the little guy but i'm not going to drive 8-10 miles to the other side of town to go to the independent coffee shop when there is a starbucks less than a mile from my house.

so when we went in to said starbucks two weeks ago for an afternoon treat, i discovered that they were no longer just giving away those cardboard mug warmer thingies with your coffee. you have to ask for them. they're still free - you just have to ask. the barista told me it was because they were trying to do their part to save the environment by not just handing out that much paper with every drink if not everyone desperately needed one. i don't know if that is just that one shop or the company as a whole, but i appreciated it. it's a tiny little thing, but it's tiny little things that can add up to a big thing. and on a completely capitalist note, if it helps keep their costs down then maybe they won't raise the price of my latte by a nickel if the price of their stock goes down.

for a big company that puts a lot of little companies out of business, i kind of like starbucks. they pay their employees well and have a good corporate culture. they always seem to be up there on the forbes list of the best companies to work for. and they're kind of like mcdonald's in their ubiquitous-ness - when you order a big mac, you always know what you're going to get. same at starbucks. which brings me to my giveaway: i went home and thought, that is GREAT about not giving out mug warmers. i've been meaning to make myself one anyways for a while, so this gave me the push i needed to do it:


(yes, that is a coffee roaster and yes i roast my own coffee and yes i'm kind of strange like that. but if you've been reading for any length of time you know that i do a lot of random things.) i can keep it in my car or my handbag and never have to get a cardboard warmie thing again. and i want you to do your own little tiny part too, so i'm giving you two, one for you and one for your sweetie or your best friend or your kid or just to keep around for when you treat someone to a coffee. i'm also including a $5 gift card so you can go try out your warmie thing.

so leave me a comment if you would like to be entered and let me know one small, simple way you are trying to change the world around you. please also leave me your email address (feel free to munge it) so i can get in touch with you about sending you your prize. you have until 8pm pdt on friday, march 13, 2009. i'll plug the results into random.org and post the winner along with a picture of the actual prize (i haven't made the prize ones yet, the yellow daisy is MINE you can't have it) on blogiversary day, march 15. i'll mail it anywhere in the good ole us of a so if you're out of the country, i'm sorry, but you can still have the satisfaction of having won and i'll choose another winner.

and yes, i know how long and verbose this is, but if you've read any of my blog posts at all you know that's just part of my charm, that i take forever to say things. have fun with this and thanks for reading!

update: i have been informed that they are not in fact called coffee warmie thingies. they are either coffee cozies or reuseable coffee sleeves. am i the only person in the world who didn't know this?

hey! check me out!

seriously, check me out! (i am inordinately excited by this, can you tell?) and while you're at it, check out the rest of sweet pea's blog. my favorite part is her super-shopper-ness and recipes. i think that girl could stretch a dollar from here to the moon. if you found me from newlyweds, welcome and thanks for visiting!

like last week, this week has been really busy and i have not found time really to post. besides, what is blogworthy anyway? i am pregnant and this kid is consuming my life and who wants to hear about that? we took some maternity photos this weekend, once we decide which ones we want i will post, because i really like them. i'm nesting like you would not believe. my prenatal yoga class is again tonight. i made a cute little thing that i will post about next week for my first blogiversary, because i want to do a giveaway, so check back with me sometime next week. i'm inordinately excited about that too, i think a giveaway will be fun, and i really like this little thing. i made a really yummy (and easy) leek tart last night that brian loved so maybe tomorrow i'll post the recipe.

in the meantime, this week i am thankful for:

1. t3. "way back" when i started doing t3 i had no idea how much i would enjoy it. and some weeks it is really hard to think of three things from the past week that i am thankful for. seeing others consistently be thankful has encouraged me to not just drop it altogether. i suppose this is my version of a gratitude journal (though at my house i also keep a blessings jar - a large, old vase into which i drop little slips of paper on which i've written down something that i'm thankful for). t3 helps me relax and refocus some when i lay in bed wednesday nights, recounting my week and deciding what i want to be thankful for.

2. my silly, wonderful husband, who made our maternity pictures a lot of fun and helped me relax when we did shots of me wearing only jeans and my bella band over my chest. i explained to him later, i wanted pictures of the belly and i knew i was going to have to "bare it all" (or at least, more than i am used to!) for that to happen. it was just a little unnerving an uncomfortable to come out of the dressing room with my shoulders bare and stomach hanging out for someone to photograph. i felt very naked and exposed, even though i wasn't really, and brian really helped me relax and have fun with it.

3. my fabulous provider husband, who manages our finances and keeps us on track. i understand the concept of a budget, but i just don't get it in practice, which is why i don't manage the money. we sat down last night and had The Chat about how much money we have and how long i am going to be able to stay home after the kiddo is born, and while the conclusions we reached are not what would be ideal (me becoming a sahm), we will be able to manage more than i would have expected. if it were me doing the budgeting, we'd have been up a creek a long time ago, so i am glad that he takes care of our family in this respect.

what are you thankful for today?

i had a good title for this post, but i forgot it.

i would say it has been a quiet week but it has actually been rather busy. nothing blog-worthy though unless you count doctor's appointments and chores and running endless errands. kiddo is still happy and healthy as far as anyone can tell which is good news. we replaced the overhead light fixtures in the museum and the kiddo's room, but they are pretty basic and not blog-worthy except that they give off more/better light than the old ones which completely sucked. nothing else to do in the nursery until the dresser is built which is wreaking havoc with my nesting instinct but i am trying to be patient. in the meantime, this week i am thankful for:

1. my boys, brian and woody, who were snoring in counterpoint when i woke up the other night and it made me almost laugh out loud. at 3 am. and brian would have woken up and killed me so it is a good thing i didn't.

2. actually getting things accomplished. even though it has been an exhausting week chock-full of all kinds of fun things like interviewing daycare providers (which rips a hole in my heart to begin with, i don't know what i am going to do when i actually have to leave her with one), it is nice to get that stuff checked off my list.

3. these delicious waffles which we (i) have been eating every weekend for the past few weeks. the recipe is basically the one from joy of cooking with just a couple tiny tweaks. it is chock full of butter so not terribly healthy but damn they are so good that i just don't care. joc says lots of butter is necessary to tenderize the waffles and keep them from sticking to the iron, and more butter makes a crunchy golden pancake. the recipe calls for anywhere from ½ to 2 sticks of butter and i make it with the full 2 sticks. i also tossed in some whole wheat flour for good measure and somewhere, i don't know where, i saw vanilla which is not even in the recipe but makes them taste like candy. i could eat an entire batch all by myself and that is not just because i am pregnant.

basic buttermilk waffles

1½ c. flour
¼ c. whole wheat flour
1 T. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
1 T. sugar
½ tsp. salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
½ - 2 sticks butter, melted
1½ c. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla

combine dry ingredients. combine wet ingredients. make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well and mix well to combine. batter will be slightly lumpy. or combine the wet and dry ingredients in a food processor which is what i do. one waffle uses approximately ½ cup of batter.

how to annoy your husband

1. lose one of the cordless telephone handsets.
2. deny using the phone, thereby negating that it is your fault that it is lost. when it becomes obvious that it is your fault, admit that you can't remember when you last even used the phone, so how could it be your fault?
3. blame it on pregnant brain.
4. call the handset using the intercom feature on the other handset (or your cell phone).
5. allow husband to discover handset on the shelf in the closet next to your shoes.
6. laugh uncontrollably, thereby increasing his frustration. blame it again on pregnant brain and remind him that you cannot remember the last time you used the phone.
7. kiss husband and remind him that he loves you despite your "quirks."

pretty and functional, right up my alley.

this was also a small project this weekend that i have been meaning to do. this creative idea was stolen from my mother:


i like it because it is crafty and functional without looking like some nifty crafty organizer thingy you'd buy at a holiday bazaar and pawn off on some unsuspecting b-list relative. i also like it because it makes my everyday things like artwork. brian actually even liked it, a lot i presume, because he kept commenting on it. or maybe he just liked that we finally have something (anything!) hung on a wall in our master bedroom.

it took about a half an hour to complete and no swearing at all which is my kind of project. i used the glass in a frame i had as a template to cut a rectangle from a piece of canvas, about 2-3 inches larger all around than the glass. i sewed on five random shank buttons from the button jar all in a row. they are about 1½-2 inches apart and kind of large-ish in diameter, and you need the shank so there is some depth for the chains. then i ran a length of heavy-duty thread across the back from one side to another in a kind of Z pattern, pulling the canvas really tight around the glass so it would not shift. i was not so concerned about the sides but i didn't want the top to wrinkle funny and maybe drape from the weight of the necklaces. then i just reassembled the frame and hung it on the wall by my dresser and voila, we finally have something mildly decorative.

condensed, sadly (but nicely streamlined)

the big project around the house this weekend was moving my sewing room downstairs along with all the assorted sewing/crafty crap i have collected over the years. this meant the downstairs closet had to get cleaned out, which was good because it was just storage for a bunch of stuff that did not need to be stored in the house. um, luggage? my upstairs closet also had to get cleaned out which was good because there was a lot of stuff that i just had not dealt with since we moved in six months ago. including stuff that just got thrown into boxes that really ought to have been thrown in the trash but just seemed vitally important at the time. and a bunch of brian's stuff that mysteriously migrated from the museum, how did that happen?

this is what i ended up with, sharing space with the guest room, which really feels a lot better now that the huge dark bookcase is out of there (the books went upstairs onto the ledge in our bedroom) and the futon looks like a real bed:


small notions in the top two drawers which previously housed random scrapbooking crap that now has a new home. isn't it nice to clean stuff out? the bottom drawer is scrapbooking paper, and the boxes behind are my sewing box (random stuff like the cams for the elna, extra knife blades for the serger, the buttonholer that i haven't figured out how to use yet) and two boxes of scrapbooking stuff. on the shelf is the cd box i repurposed years ago to hold my working patterns (those currently in rotation), a box of zippers and a box of elastic/velcro/bias tape, tailor's ham and seam roll, and the "reference" books and magazines i've collected over the years pertaining to my various hobbies obsessions. the small corkboard is a must for keeping pattern instructions handy while sewing a new project.

the shelf i repurposed from our old entertainment center that was in the original sewing room. i was going to hang both shelves but at the moment i like the spare-ness of just one, and (i think) i have enough space with just the one. hopefully it will also force me to keep things neat and tidy. this room also gets great light during the day but like all our bedrooms the overhead lights are crappy and dull at night. hence the torch lamp with the reading light which was previously down here and stayed, because i tend to like to sew at night when it is quiet. the ironing board will come down here also in the next day or so but i think i am going to have to get another over-the-door board for our bedroom/clothes ironing. we'll see how all the tromping up and down the stairs works out or if i can be counted on to pull the ironing out of the clean clothes basket before it goes upstairs.

still not sure if i am going to bring the knitting basket down or leave it upstairs in our room and i still have to re-hang the pictures i took down while we were moving stuff around. even with bare walls the room just feels good. even though it is smaller than my previous beloved space i am somewhat excited to get to work on a project in there. i think it is because the drawers under the table will make it so much easier to sew and scrapbook, because the little stuffs are not hidden in my sewing box or in the closet but usefully, easily within reach. the biggest thing i lost is large space to cut out patterns, but really, i can do that on the island in the kitchen or on my table if i move the machines.

in other news, rather coveting this cd from fiction family. nickel creek plus switchfoot equals beautiful. i wonder if i have enough change saved for a new cd?

the danger of drinking and walking at the same time

when he got in to louisville, kentucky, last night (business trip), brian immediately went out to t.g.i. friday's for something to eat. he hadn't eaten all day because he had been travelling, and apparently he hadn't drank anything either, because four beers made him pretty tipsy.

so tipsy, in fact, that he couldn't find his way back to his hotel. at 11pm. in 31° weather.

and called his wife to find out how to get back to his hotel. because, you know, i know louisville like the back of my hand.

introducing vinegar

this weekend when my sister came to visit she also brought her laundry to wash in our washer instead of paying to take it to the laundromat. brian grumbled a little when i first told him this would happen, but i reminded him of all the times his mother had let us bring laundry over, and all the times we had been sure to do laundry before leaving my mom's house, so we wouldn't have to pay for it at the laundromat. i figured letting my sister do laundry at our house was like good karma. good laundry karma.

i also introduced her to vinegar in her wash. to be fair, i only discovered this trick about two months ago but i am already in love with it. conveniently, i found out about it approximately six days after i bought the costco-sized pack of dryer sheets. so if anyone needs or wants dryer sheets i will gladly pass them on to you. otherwise i have dryer sheets to last the rest of my life and then some. vinegar cuts the detergent residue from your clothes and leaves them very fresh-smelling (but not vinegar-smelling). distilled white vinegar is the only kind you should use, which is nice because it is also the cheapest kind. i got two gallons at costco last week for $3.57. you just do your wash like usual and the vinegar goes in the fabric softener dispenser in the washing machine. if you don't have a dispenser, i have read that a downy ball works great also. it only takes about ¼ - ½ cup; i just pour it in to the line in the dispenser.

that little conversation with my sister got me to thinking about how i do my laundry and care for my clothes. (also a conversation with her boyfriend in which we educated him on the properties of lint.) i would like to think i do a pretty good job on my clothes, since they look nice and wear well for a long time. many of my clothes i have had for years but they don't look it. a girl i used to work with would often comment on what a cute new sweater i was wearing, when in fact the sweater was years old and i just hadn't worn it lately. so, here is how i do laundry:

1. i very rarely hand-wash anything. sacrilege, my sister says! (she hand-washes a lot of her stuff, even her cashmere.) i have nothing against hand-washing, in fact i admire people who make that effort. i just am not one of those people. 99% of my stuff is washable in the washing machine.

2. i very rarely dry clean my clothes either. dry cleaning is not environmentally friendly and i don't like bringing those chemicals into my car and my home. (the rare occasions i have to go to the cleaners, i always air my clothes for 24-48 hours afterwards.) again, 99% of my stuff is washable so it is usually not an issue. when i do have to dry clean my clothes, i usually use dryel. it's cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and more people-friendly. i will usually "clean" clothes with dryel 3-4 times and then they go to the dry cleaners.

3. on the subject of dry cleaning: almost every fabric can be washed - 99% of the clothes you buy that say "dry clean only" don't desperately need to be dry cleaned. granted, some things are insanely easier to clean that way (brian's suits all go to the cleaners). wool can be washed and dried - just carefully, because it shrinks. silk can also be washed, gently; silk charmeuse (the lightweight shiny silk) needs a little extra care so it doesn't get "scuffed." most synthetic fabrics can be washed and often just need a gentle cycle. imho that "dry clean only" label is there to cover the manufacturer in case you royally screw up and destroy your clothes.

4. sort, sort, sort! pretty much everyone knows to sort by color, but less people realize that clothes also need to be sorted by fabric weight. you don't want your jeans bashing up your lightweight tees. we do five loads each week at my house: whites, lightweight darks, heavy darks (jeans, sweats, khakis, etc), light delicates, and dark delicates.

5. as far as delicates go, i throw a lot of stuff in there that my mother and sister don't worry about. all my underwear, even the cotton ones, go in delicates. so do all my socks and brian's dress socks. sweaters, of course. even brian's nylon track shorts go in delicates. the general rule in our house about clothes (excluding undergarments) is that if it is 100% synthetic, it goes in delicates; if it has cotton, it goes in whites or darks.

6. i also don't use a mesh bag for my delicates. some people would faint at this i think but it works fine for me. i hook my bras together at the back strap instead of leaving them unhooked, and they stay like that when washed, so they don't get tangled into an awful knot and the hooks don't catch into anything.

7. smaller loads are better - don't overfill your washer. about 2/3 full is a good rule of thumb for both front- and top-loading washers. your clothes need space to move around in the water in order to get clean. also, if they have space to move around, they aren't forced to be rubbed up against each other for the whole cycle, which breaks down the fibers. fabric fibers are weakest when wet.

8. cooler water is also better. i wash "regular" clothes in warm water and delicates in cold, and my washer (the whirlpool duet sport) does only cold water washes. the only things i wash in hot water are towels and sheets. cooler water is gentler on your clothes.

9. my washer also allows me to choose the spin speed. regular loads get a high spin speed, because cotton is very absorbent and so i feel like that high spin speed is necessary to get the water out. delicates get a medium or low spin speed, because i feel like the synthetics don't hold as much water, and it's gentler on the clothes.

10. i generally line-dry my delicates. most of them are synthetics which dry pretty quickly. i hung a couple lines in our laundry room so i can line-dry even in the winter. i would line dry a lot more of our laundry but brian complains about the "crinkly" stiff feeling in his shirts, and i don't have that much line space anyways.

11. like washing, drying on a slightly lower heat setting is better, i think, even if you have to run the dryer for longer. the only things i do on higher heat are towels and sheets, because those would take forever otherwise. remember, that lint that you clean out of the trap is pieces of your clothes. the goal is to minimize your clothes from falling apart.

12. also, i don't use dryer sheets anymore because of the vinegar. if i have to tumble dry my delicates i will throw in a half a dryer sheet to prevent static cling, and sometimes i will put a half a sheet in with the whites (where most of brian's poly/cotton work shirts get washed, and they can get a little static-y). vinegar is cheaper than dryer sheets and better for our skin and the environment in the long run anyways.

yeah, that was long. sorry. i tend to ramble. how do you do keep your clothes nice?

random things that are making me happy lately

- a warm cup of tea and my new pink cardigan.

- my cat, who randomly woke up hissing and spitting on saturday evening while we were watching a movie. i was sitting 5 feet away from him, so brian could not accuse me of tormenting the cat. must have been a nightmare, i guess. it was just so cute and funny, and then he blinked and looked around at us like he was a bit embarassed to realize he was safe at home in front of the fireplace instead of out defending his territory against marauders or something.

- who also feels the need to keep me company on the bathroom counter while i put on my makeup and do my hair in the morning, who inspects my makeup brushes and tolerates hairspray but runs away at the sound of the hairdryer.

- the blue icicle lights we put on the front of our house.

- the cherry betty boop chapstick that bonnie gave me last year for valentine's day that is mysteriously tinted the perfect shade of pink. though i have to be careful not to just smear it on like regular chapstick, which is what i did this morning not knowing any better, and ended up with a ring around my mouth as if i was 3 years old and didn't know how to eat a popsicle.

- my husband, who discovered four inches of standing water in the front gutter, and i said SEE NOW this is why i have been getting after you to clean out the gutters, you ought to listen to me more often.

- my christmas gifts, which i (mostly) finished yesterday, and i would post pictures except that certain recipients also read this. i'll post photos after christmas. suffice to say that i would like to get one from me. i think this will rank right up with the year i made the jam.

- cozy flannel sheets, which are going on my bed tonight.

- fuzzy new sweatpants fresh and warm from the dryer.

- split pea soup, and picking fresh rosemary from my front yard whenever i want some. and why can't i find any split pea soup recipes that call for rosemary? i always put it in my soup, i think the earthiness of the peas and ham goes quite nicely with rosemary.

- twinkly lights on my christmas tree, even though there is one strand that i can't seem to prevent from going spastic. all i want is for that strand to twinkle, and it keeps going all schizo on me no matter how i play with the controller. strange.

- that there are only 6 more days (5 not counting today) until cookie-making weekend with my sister starts!

wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'

every year i struggle to think of what i would like for christmas. generally i'd like to think that i am a relatively easy person to shop for, but i know some people (especially those of the husband variety) tend to like more specific direction. those people also tend to get tired of the old standbys for me, books and gift cards. (are gift cards not the absolute greatest invention ever? the giver gets the satisfaction of giving you a gift, and you can use it for a treat whenever you want to!) so around this time each year i rack my brain to think of what would make me smile and what would be useful in my life.

a couple rules for my gifts:
1. they generally need to be useful.
2. generally, stay away from gadget-y things that have only one function, like a garlic slicer (which i treated myself to one year and promptly scraped up my finger using).
3. pink is always good.
4. sparkly is always nice.

this year i am hoping to find under our tree:
- a pink garmin nuvi 200. i would even share it with brian.
- my sewing scissors sharpened. all three pairs, including the pinkers.
- my kitchen knives sharpened. the serrated ones are fine, but the plain ones desperately need sharpening.
- cute maternity clothes, especially blouses and tops. i'm kind of afraid that i will get very tired of the few things i have very quickly.
- a wii fit. oh yes, it's trendy. and i hear from coworkers about how much fun it is, and i think brian and i would have a blast. and we would get healthy!
- a new handbag. i'm tired of my old one but it is such a nice size, and i haven't found one that i love enough to justify spending $30 on. (probably my sister just choked on the thought of spending only $30 on a handbag, but she is single and works for nordstrom and has standards to uphold, and i am a cheap date and shop at places like target and kohl's and have a husband to answer to.)
- that mineral makeup starter kit from bare escentuals. i think costco carries it, even. how shallow, i know, but i've been wanting to try mineral makeup for a while and i generally don't splurge on makeup for myself, so this would be a treat.
- a gift card to joann fabics. i know there are way better fabric stores, but not close to my house. and i know that on the 26th i am going to want to get started sewing little blue or pink clothes.

my super dreams:
- an elna q6600 computerized sewing/embroidery machine. yeah, i know it costs more than my first car. just think of it as an investment. i mean, look at everything it can do! i'd never have to even think about a new machine again.
- a zap zapino electric scooter in sky blue. omg, isn't it cute? and it plugs in, saving money and gasoline (and the environment)! please note that i would also require a matching sky blue helmet. wouldn't i look great zipping and zapping down the street to work? yes, i think i would.
- a nissan murano le in platinum graphite. perfect for our family to grow into and brian fits into it comfortably (and likes it too). if it were just me, i'd get a sentra, personally.
- oh, and while we're on the subject of dreaming, i would also like a 1963 aston martin db4 vantage or a 1957 jaguar xk 140. man, aren't those pretty cars.

belly dancer

this is my mil:


she took up belly dancing a couple years ago as a lark and absolutely loves it. she's pretty darn good, too. she is part of a troupe of about 12 women and performs at functions and events. it used to drive brian nuts that his mother was out there swinging her hips and baring her tummy, but now he is okay with it. i love that she dances, i think it is awesome and empowering and i would like to do it also, if only to teach me a little rhythm!

new obsession

today's obsession: the blog it's lovely! i'll take it!, dedicated to ridiculous listing photos.

i mean, where else can you find this?

and you just can't beat the snarky commentary. love it.

trashy acts of kindness

when i came home from work tonight, our trash cans were not sitting by the sidewalk like they usually are after the trash man comes around. it was very strange. did someone actually steal our trash cans? how weird, but then, stranger things have happened. when i pulled into the driveway and opened the garage door, i noticed that our neighbor had pulled them up the driveway over to our fence (where they get put away) for me. when i went over to thank him, he explained that i shouldn't be doing heavy lifting in my condition.

usually brian does the trash cans and spares me that chore. it's very kind of him and i always appreciate it (though i think i don't tell him that enough) because i don't like running around the house emptying all the little cans and hauling the big bag out to the bin. (my job it to replace the kitchen trash bag.) but brian is in kentucky so taking out the cans was my job this week. it's not a hard job, of course, and brian is so sweet that he even made it easier for me by doing all the collecting and hauling the night before he left, so all i had to do was put the cans actually out in the street. so that was actually the first trashy act of kindness to happen to me, and our neighbor was the second.

it was such a little thing that our neighbor did for me this evening, and it was so nice. it really made my evening and i liked sharing it with brian, so i just thought i would share it with you too.