What I'm Working On

I did get my purse handles last night, for those of you who care about my purse creation dilemma. I'm in the process of working on a mother/daughter set of my handmade aprons. They are very hip! Polka dots, ruffles, coordinating fabrics - can it get any cuter than that? I also have silks and satins to make some purses for upcoming formals, weddings, proms, etc. So if you or your daughter are in the market for something formal, buy handmade! Contact me if you have a design or color in mind (to perfectly match your dress!) I have a nice stash of new designer fabrics coming in the mail - gorgeous Spring/Summer prints. So be on the lookout for more handmade aprons, purse organizers, and handbags. Once they arrive I will take photos and share. I have actually recently been working on a new handbags design, that involves zippered pockets and nice sturdy bottoms - so be on the lookout for those also.

I have joined a couple of Etsy Teams - Etsymoms and Etsy Artists Of Color. I'm looking forward to getting to know some creative, knowledgeable folks and participating in some promotional activities. I think I will only be posting new items in my shop on Mondays and Fridays, maybe Saturdays (if I have a burst of energy, but don't count on it!)

Oh My Word! Jump into Two Rivers!

Right now! Go to Two Rivers Soap, get your soap - order it today! I just got mine - I could smell it through the box. My mail lady must have been so jealous :) Actually it probably drove her crazy all day long. "Mmmm, that smells good! What is in that box? Is it a candle? Is it soap? Where is that from?" Oh Jennifer, honey, get yourself a larger return address label. Put your shop info on it and you'll have massive orders coming in from mail carriers all over the country! Get yours people! I got White Tea & Ginger, Sandalwood Vanilla, and Brown Sugar & Fig. Delish! Oh and don't come over here thinking you're gonna wash your hands at my place - you'll just get Walmart liquid soap. This is mine all mine :)

Purse Handle Woes

So, I've been diligently working on my new fabrics and have this very cute little fruity bag with no purse handles. I keep losing my Ebay bids on purse handle lots. I hate buying one pair of handles at a time. I want 30 pairs of handles in different sizes, colors and shapes to just pluck out of box when I finish a new creation. This stifles my creative process - no closure to the project. Guess where I'm going tonight - to find some freakin' purse handles!

Is it soon for Spring?

I don't care! I am seeing all kinds of fun and funky fabrics with delicious themes! My little wheels are squeaking in delight at all the upcoming designs I can make for fabulous fun accessories. Just to give you a little taste, sample some of my newest fabrics that will magically turn into aprons and handbags. If you see a combo you like for a purse organizer, claim it quickly because these fabrics are going to go fast into larger projects.

I'm excited! I know it's the dead of winter. Please excuse my exuberance. I'm just so excited that I got into my local CSA, that all I can think of is fresh market foods! I know it's still 3 months off, but you know that'll be gone before you know it. I even bought my seeds for herbs and a variety of lettuces. Hehehe, ooohhh, no sleep for me :)

Featured Artist - Two Rivers Soap

Jennifer founded Two Rivers Soap Company in 1999. Today it's still a one-woman business that operates out of her home in Des Moines, Iowa. She makes all her products from scratch in her kitchen-or the "microsoapery" as she calls it! Jennifer opened her ETSY shop in April 2007, but has been selling through her website and the downtown farmer's market in Des Moines, Iowa for the past 8 years. She also does occasional craft shows throughout the year and various retail outlets.

When she's not making soap & other skincare products, she works full-time as a librarian, hangs out with her boys, reads, cooks, makes mosaics & watches movies.

Visit her shop at www.tworiverssoaps.etsy.com! Do those close to you a favor - smell better! Buy handmade scentfully delicious soaps from Two Rivers Soaps :)

Life Flies By!

Well! last week really got away from me! I have lots that I didn't get to write about, but I promise I will make it up this week. I have some really beautiful things I've been working on, new stuff I want to share with you, and more info on books and family. Later on today, I will be presenting my new Featured Artist of the Week! So tune in again after lunch :)

Mmmmm Gooooood!

Oh MYYYYY! I got my teas and wow! Very delicious - easily as good (maybe better!) than my 350-mile tea! I will be ordering more and if you are nice, I might invite you over for a cup. But don't bet on it - you'll have to get your own :)

www.teanoir.etsy.com

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally

Hahaha, it's Wednesday and I'm now realizing that yesterday was Book Tuesday. Okay, so the day got away from me. Anyway, back to it...

Alisa and J.B. are a long-term couple who live together in the Pacific Northwest, in a little apartment with no patch of grass to call their own. So their attempt to only eat food harvested within a 100 mile radius was a grand and lofty goal. And probably a bit more along the lines of how we surbanites would have to go about it if we decided to make the big break. They don't have any problems finding food during the growing season due to all the local farmers' markets. However, they do have to go on a bit of a hunt to find many things we take for granted: flour, rice, oats, wheat, beans, etc.

They spend one month living completely off the land during the summer in the Canadian wilderness - no electricity, no plumbing, just a shelter, lots of lush foliage, and a nearby stream. The crunch comes when they are trying to preserve a variety of foods to have in the winter when they can't go to the grocery store - keeping in mind they have a tiny apartment.

So realistically, after reading both of these books, here's what I do. I buy from the farmers' markets from April to November, supplemented with veggies and herbs from my own garden, and sadly traipse off to the grocery store from December to April. I do buy only anti-biotic and hormone free meats, organic hormone-free milk, and try to keep my winter produce from within the United States. "It's expensive! I can't do that!" you say. Well, you're right, it is expensive. But sometimes you have to decide what's more important and make changes. Eat less meat - we are only designed to process red meat once a week and white meats up to 4 times per week. As Americans, we think it's our sworn duty to eat meat at every meal and red meat at least once a day. This is what causes us to be sluggish and irregular. Eat more bean and rice dishes, pasta with veggies, quick processing things. If you reduce the amount of meat you eat and take in more legumes and grains, you can even out the higher cost of the AB & H-free meats.

Also, I'm going to try to plant more this year.

Valentine Apron Finished

Come look at it here! Buy it now - there's only one!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9075855

Featured Artist - Tea Noir

This week's Featured Artist is Tea Noir. First, let me start by saying that I have been known to drive 350 miles for a particularly good cup of tea. Lipton is not part of my vocabulary. I do not drink coffee - actually, I hate it. (I know, sue me all you coffee drinkers.) I will pay silly amounts for a really good cup of tea. I have been loyal to my particular brand of tea for some time (can only be purchased by mail order), buying in bulk and hoarding seasonal blends like air is low.

So imagine my surprise when I was doing a little Etsy browsing this week and found Tea Noir. I read this little description on the front shop page, "All our teas and tisanes are blended using only all-natural botanicals, and we use organic and wildcrafted ingredients whenever possible. There's no fear of weird chemical flavourings here, and everything is vegan - so enjoy a cuppa!" I became intrigued, browsed through the shop, read their profile, and took the plunge. I ordered a sampler and I haven't been this giddy since the day I got my drivers' license! It should be here today or tomorrow and then I will come back and update and add pictures of me enjoying my cuppa!

Visit them at www.teanoir.etsy.com! Stay tuned for my tea review sometime this week!

Jewelry Sale

Valentine's Day is coming! Get yourself a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry from my shop while it's on sale. Look in the Clearance, prices have already been marked down. Payments received by 2/10/08 will receive their shipment in time for Valentins's Day.

Max-imum Velocity!

It's Family Friday on the Blog. I was trying to think of some really witty thing that one of kids said that I could relay to you, but they're being brats today. So instead, I will introduce you to Max, my oldest.

He was born on a cold night in October 93 in Reston, VA. NAFTA was the hot topic at the time. A cute little guy with an ultra-large tummy. It actually prevented him from sitting up and walking on time. However, the extra months of physical inactivity allowed his brain to develop in ways that we knew would be trouble, even at the tender age of 9 months.

Fast forward to a few years later - we had moved to Arizona, had a 2nd child (wait for next Family Friday), and Max was ready for school. He was only 4, but very ready for full time kindergarten. I wanted to homeschool then - homeschooling has always been very popular in Arizona (very poor public education - 49th in the nation at the time!). But it wasn't to be at that time. I had to work, we needed to eat; but I did find a charter school with a homeschool curriculum that he thrived in. By this time, Max had already been telling me that he was going to be an astronaut for 2 years. When he was 6, he realized the chances of becoming an astronaut were slimmer than previously realized, so he set his sights on becoming a pilot. Add another sibling (two Family Fridays from now), and then we moved here to central Virginia.

It was here in our lovely Chesterfield County PS system that put the final nail in the coffin. Over the next 3 school years, Max continued to thrive, study the cosmos, and accelerate in mathematics. There was no doubt that he was gifted in math and science. Everyone said so, his teachers, our friends, strangers in the street (Max isn't shy), anyone that spoke with him. However, the County felt that putting him in the teacher-recommended math class, simply wasn't going to happen because he was already a year younger than everyone else in the class. Hmm, ability is not as important as age. Good to know.

I saw too many documentaries about the middle school years and panicked. I have this amazing, bright, funny, innocent, religious kid and they were going to turn him into an unrecognizable monster - I was sure of it! AND they won't put him in classes that he's capable of, because he's chronologically challenged. There, I said it. Max is chronologically challenged - he is too young for his grade. Never mind his abilities, social graces, well-roundedness, and good heart.

After much prayer, discussions with Kevin, talking to other homeschooling families, I decided to quit my very good job and homeschool Max. The others were still in school that first year while I got my feet wet. Ronan was just a baby and slept all the time (3 Family Fridays from now). It was hard. We didn't like it so much the first 2 months. We struggled with each other, trying to find our place, style, and roles. But we did figure it out and it became more enjoyable.

Over the years, we have changed our style, all the kids have been home for a couple of years now, and so we have revamped and readjusted a few times. My greatest epiphany was when I met Jenny (who also homeschools) and I saw her very unstructured life with beautiful, well-spoken, good-hearted children. Then I relaxed and we all breathed easier. It works well now. We have a rhythm that changes with the weather, but it works. Max has accelerated so much over the last couple of years - he's in 11th grade now. We're looking at colleges, thinking about SATs, plotting career lines - it's all very scary; he's only 14. But his head sits firmly on his shoulders and I don't worry about him. I worry about me. What will I do without him? I will miss him in a couple of years when he goes away.

He'll be taking college classes locally first. 15 or 16 is too young to live away; but eventually, he'll transfer or we'll move to that farm I'm dreaming of. He's a good young man - not even a kid anymore really. You can check out some of his scientific experiment videos by following the link in the sidebar. He's dreaming of a career in chemical physics - renewable energy, propulsion, something beyond my grasp. He recently got over a rocket propellant phase - and he managed to keep all limbs and digits in the right place! Now it's magnetics. I think he's trying to create an electromagnetic power source - small scale for now, but no doubt it'll get bigger. I just keep telling him to either hook up the house or the car - save me money somehow!

Keep your eye on him!

Valetine Crafting in the Works

I'm working on a Valentine's Apron! There will only be two made. One half and one full. Since they are still in the construction stage, it will probably be a week before they are up on the site. But of course, as with anything else you see here first, you can buy it before it's listed and someone else gets YOUR item! Just send me a comment or email that my latest project is yours - all yours! I will send you the info for checkout and send it right off to you.

I have the half apron already cut, but I'm still deciding on colors and style for the full one. I'm thinking something out of the 50s. Like with a gathered skirt front and ruffle with a big generous tie. I have some new fabric coming, so maybe I'll see something in there that will really inspire me! I'm afraid I'll come up with this great vintage design that will be a lot of work - then it truly will be one of kind!

A Year of Food Life

Okay, so I had one of my killer migraines yesterday. I don't get them often, but when I do.... So that means I didn't get to finish my book review of "A Year of Food Life" from last week. (Tuesday is Book Tuesday - trying to set up a pattern here. I'm Type A for those who don't know me.)

It's funny that Book Tuesday (when I'm writing about food) fell on the very day my local CSA opened up their registration. More on that later! Anyway, Barbara Kingsolver, her husband Steve, and daughters Lily and Camille were living in Arizona (Tucson to be exact), living everyday regular lives. Steve had a piece of family property in Southern Virginia that they would visit for summers. (Can you believe it?! Arizona to Virginia - I read that and thought, "Lord? Could you make it any clearer?!) They wanted to do a family experiment of eating only the foods that they knew firsthand the exact origins of, for one year. It helps that they have a family farm just waiting to move onto, but image what a daunting task that would be. Do you have ANY clue where you food comes from? I don't mean Walmart or Kroger. I mean WHERE? Ecuador, Peru, California?

Barbara writes the bulk of the story, month by month, of how eating seasonally affected their lives and buying meats from local farmers and grain from mills changed their outlook on life, nature, etc. Steve offers the hard core commercial facts in what I call Snippet Boxes. These are the bits that make you sit up and realize how terribly wrong we have gone as a consuming public. If you are not an avid reader and don't think you would take the time to read this book. PLEASE, just rent it from the library and only read Steve's Snippets (you can find them easily - only 1 or 2 per chapter and typeset differently). Camille provides wonderful, and EASY, recipes to make from the bounty of your land. And Lily inspired me to get egg-laying hens. I don't have them yet (thank you Brandermill Community Association), but I WILL!

I know, I know! You're saying "I can't grow all my own food!" Blah, blah, me either. But I do grow in little small patches what I can. I suggest you look into the next best thing in your area - the CSA! CSA means Community Supported Agriculture. To keep hardworking family farms afloat and providing us with fantastic foods (and NOT selling out to growing acres of dent corn that no one can eat - or worse! Going bankrupt and losing yet ANOTHER vital piece of local flavor!), the farm will offer shares of the farm to the public. Some are working shares, where you physically help out, but most are financial shares. Farmer Bob will take, let's say, 60 of his 100 acres, and call that portion the Share Farm. He calculates his cost and small profit and divides that number by the number of shares he's offering. So basically, you pay anywhere from $450 to $800 dollars for 16 to 30 weeks of produce.

In my case, it breaks down to about $16 a week for FRESH (most times it's picked the day before pick up), organic, SEASONAL produce. You begin to enjoy things at the height of freshness, experiencing tastes you've never had before. You learn to appreciate new produce that you've never tried before, because it was in your weekly pack. You are not subjected to watered-down hybrid varieties that have virtually NO nutritional impact. The benefits are enormous! You would spend that or more going to a grocery chain. (Oh, and if you can't get into a CSA, please support your farmer's markets. We need a resurgence in this way of life. It may be our only hope of survival as a people.) Why NOT get better produce AND support your local economy?

I could go on an on! Wait till next week when I tell you about "One Raucous Year". More food! I have to go fill out my CSA application.

More Crafty Upcoming Stuff!

I'm so excited! I want you all to know that I am having little fabric tags made to put in my handmade items. They are designed just like my Callidora banner on my shop and will also have my web address on them. So if you forget where you got that fabulous item from, or if you give it as a gift, you can remember where you got it and go get more! Yay! Thanks to CamillesQuilts for handmaking the labels for me. You can get your own and other cutie things from her at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5316717

I will have to feature her sometime down the road. I just wanted to give her kudos for now. I have new fabric on the way, new labels, and will be getting new business cards soon. I will be crafting up a storm for the spring and already have some new handbags in the works. Get your orders in now if you have an Easter outfit you know you want to coordinate with!

50% Off Jewelry!

Hello Everyone!

I am having a jewelry sale. I have so much jewelry that I made during the Fall for craft shows and it is getting dusty! So, go to my shop RIGHT NOW and get yourself something for 50% off. The prices listed are the original prices, so it would be 50% off of that. If you are not registered with Etsy and don't feel like doing that, just send me an email at callidoragifts@gmail.com and I will send you the info for Paypal payments.

If you're local and want to pickup, you can save yourself the shipping! Show your man what you want and say, "Valentine's Day baby! Get it for me now!"

I have more to list in jewelry and will do so as these listings sell. Please give my pretty things a loving home! :)

Featured Artist - Flaxen Fairies

This week's featured artist is Flaxen Fairies. I personally love pottery and earthenware. So when I came across this Etsy Artist, I just had to share her work with you!

Kym was introduced to wheel throwing back in the mid 90's. She got an announcement for a pottery class in the mail and thought "WOW I would love to try that!" She took classes on and off throughout the years and recently bought her first pottery wheel. She loves the process of taking a chunk of clay and letting it find its own shape while guiding it. Kym says, "The idea of creating something unique, one of a kind and functional (usually) is pretty amazing to me."

You can visit her shop at www.flaxenk123.etsy.com. Not only is her work beautiful, it is fantasically affordable (and microwave and dishwasher safe)! And my dear friends in the Richmond area - she is LOCAL! My two favorite causes - supporting individuals and buying locally. It doesn't get any better than this :)

The Comfort Zone

Create your own comfort zone. We all have busy lives and it's hard to connect with our honies sometimes. We're exhausted, we don't know what to say, the kids are demanding constant attention; it's just time to zone out. You NEED to create a space within your home that makes you feel relaxed enough to have a conversation and remember why you're together in the first place. At my house, we have the Cave. If you've been to my house, you know what I'm talking about and you probably have fond memories of Friday nights gone by.

If you've been reading my posts, by now, you know that I have a split foyer (grumble). So when you walk into my house, you have to make an immediate decision (in a 2'x3' space) to go up or down. Down is the Cave. At the bottom of the stairs, you can take a right and there's 2 bedrooms and a bathroom; but to the left is a magical realm on Friday nights. We have a long rectangular family room with a fireplace at the end, woodpaneling on the walls, mottled grey berber carpet, and very plush, comfy navy blue couches. But what makes it really special are the strings of Christmas lights all around the perimeter of the ceiling and the 25 candles around the room - on the walls, the tables, but most of them surrounding the fireplace and on the mantle. On any weekday or night, it's just an ordinary family room where someone is watching CNN or surfing the web. But on Friday nights, it's like the Bridge to Terabithia.

Only Christmas lights and candle lights are on. Our computer is hooked into our (very cheap "Made in China") home theatre system, and we crank the iTunes loud and strong! We have an amp, a good microphone, and call up lyrics on the computer and sign karoake to the real songs, not those Musak-sounding, "follow the bouncing ball" songs. We call it a "kid free zone" and they know enough to stay upstairs. (We get them something from Netflix and throw a couple of snacks at them and let them stay up late as long as there's no fighting - remind me to tell you about my kids sometime.) We have a few beers, start off talking about the week - what's new at the office, how are the kids doing, how are the friends we haven't seen in a couple of weeks (hey! maybe they'll be poppin' over later!), how did the latest Chemistry experiment go ("I see we still have a kitchen!) and the other fabulous homeschooling experiences of the week. But after a couple of hours of good tunes, a few beers, and the weekly catch-up, we start solving the world's problems. This is where I come up with all these great ideas that I can't remember a month later.

So I didn't solve a global issue last night, but I did realize that it's important to write about a creating a warm, inviting, loose space for yourself and calling it a special zone for adults once a week. We have friends that come and spend this time with us. They bring their kids - who also run upstairs and know to stay away from the Kid Free Zone. It's nice. It's not every week, but it's often enough to have meaningful conversation with other adults and not spend a whole lot of money going out (you know, dinner, drinks, babysitters, etc.)

Everyone always comments on how relaxed they are in our Cave and that they really enjoy their low cost, social time with us and how they'd love to create that atmosphere at home. So I just thought I'd share it with you. If you've been trying to figure why things don't click for you, or you're feeling exhausted and apathetic and you can't remember the last time you had a real conversation - create YOUR space. Make the effort, the dividends pay off in so many ways! Reconnection with your honey, a social life, relaxation, less stress, happier parenting - just do it.

Stuff I'm Working On for my Shop

Valentine's Day is coming up, so I'm thinking about making a couple of Valentine aprons. I have a few handbags that I'm working on that are Spring and All Season that I will be listing soon. Still trying to get to the store to get those final things that to finish them off. Does time get away from you the way it gets away from me. I'm still stuck in the 80s, I have to realize that it's a new millennium AND the first decade is almost over!

I also will have some purse organizers coming up soon - very nifty little things to keep your purse clutter free. They move from purse to purse with ease, so you don't have to go searching for things in other purses. Oooo, I feel like an infomercial. Here's a preview. If you like the idea, but want a different color, just let me know.

Eating Locally

I don't mean going to your favorite neighborhood restaurant. I mean getting your food from your own regional community. Better yet - grow it yourself!

I live in a suburban subdivision with a homeowner's association. Living my my life in a self-sustainable way is my dream, but currently not possible. We really are what we eat and so many of us are putting chemicals into our bodies. We don't even have a regional flavor anymore that we associate with our town. The farmer's markets are closed right now, until late April for our region, and I am dying for some good, down home, fresh veggies and meats.

I wasn't always this way. I used to throw things away, not recycle, eat grease and fast food and never look at my carbon footprint. My good friend, Jenny, said, "Hey, you should read this book I heard about since you want to start a little farm." And she sent me a link to "A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver. It looked interesting, so I put myself on the wait list at the library. It took 2 months to get it - pretty popular. It changed my life and the the eating habits of my whole family If you really want to know how your food gets to your table and how it SHOULD get to your table, read this and be prepared to change your ways.

Kids are cryin', gotta go - but more on this subject at a later date.

Featured Artist - Jenolastyle

This week I am featuring work from Jenolastyle. They are a team of two crafty sisters living in Maryland. Jennifer and Laura are both stay at home moms with a love of sewing, knitting, and scrapbooking. They make their own patterns and designs and are new to Etsy.com. Samples of their work are shown in the Featured Artist box above. They create delightful homemade items for babies, children and moms, specializing in bags, skirts, appliquéd onesies, bibs, burp cloths, child-size aprons, and more.

Please visit them at http://creatingforkids.blogspot.com and shop at www.jenolastyle.etsy.com.

Buy handmade! Support independent artists.

Photos on Flickr

I joined Flickr today. I put a lot of photos of my stuff there, if you'd like to see some things I've done. My screen name is Callidora.

Also, I'm very excited because I've teamed up with henryrabbit, another fellow Etsian, to revamp my avatar and banner. So keep an eye out for a new look for Callidora!

:)

New Crafty Things for My Shop

I've been working on some new bags for my shop, Callidora. I hate it when it gets so close to finishing and I need one thing that I don't have and it's too late to go to the store. Ugh! So it waits for another day.

I recently designed some new aprons that are available on my Etsy store. I decided to make some smaller than normal sizes for petite ladies or children. And! I have started a line of Plus Size aprons! Yes, ladies, "one size fits all" is a lie, don't you think? Check them out - very pretty, some look like skirts.

Chronological Schooling

Okay, this idea is from a while ago, but Kevin thought it was soo good that I should get it down. Originally this idea was kind of in the homeschooling context, but I now realize that it would work well in any educational setting. As a homeschooler, just know that I am anti-establishment for very many reasons which I'm sure we will get to eventually. Anyway....

Chronological education:

Wouldn't it make more sense to teach children chronologically. I mean take your 12 years of education, break them up into 4 year segments; then look at a time line of the history of the world and go! Each 4 years the same chronology is repeated but with more detail. Let's face it - a 1st grader can't study Ancient Greece the way a 5th or 9th grader can, so information needs to be revisited. The entire historical time line can be segmented into 4 parts - one to be covered each year. Through the study of that particular time segment, literature, art, science, vocabulary, and spelling can all be learned. Sort of a large ongoing unit study. Math skills would be taught separate from the unit study, but could be enhanced by historical math games to reinforce those new skills. So basically, the first time a child learns about Ancient Greece, s/he will learn about the time frame, contributions, geography, games, foods, recreation and stuff like that. When it is revisited 4 years later, mythology and folklore will be introduced, governmental structure, religious practices, cultural traditions, art, etc. and the 3rd and final time it is revisited, study the era through literature, art, science, government, wars, monarchies, moral and ethical dilemmas and so on.

It makes more sense to teach children all subjects at once through time. Currently a 5th grader might be learning about physical science, but reading "Goosebumps" and studying state history, doing fractions and percents, and probably isn't taking much in the way of art. So many different eras are represented at one time and for a child it makes more sense if it all fits into place and weaves in and on itself.

A logical approach if you think about it. I mean it's hard enough to keep a child engaged in an institutional setting- might as well make it relevant and meaningful. And for you homeschoolers, if you like the idea, you don't even have to spend tons of money on a program like KONOS if you don't have the resources. Use your public library! Get yourself a good history of the world, tape it to the wall, break it up onto four segments and spend a year teaching the first segment. The nice thing for multi-kid families is that you can all study the same era over the course of the year and just add more detail and self-study for the older ones. Less work for you my dear homeschooling parent! And with using the library, every thing is free, as long as it makes it back on time, and new resources, videos, etc. are coming out each year to further enhance your more detailed studies.

Just a thought :)

Why can't you test-live a house?

Why?! Oh WHY?! Can you not test-live a house? You can spend an hour with a car, drive it around, maybe even keep it overnight to see if you want to spend $40,000. You can taste every meal from a hotel's catering department and never book with them, taking your $15,000 reception elsewhere. But we are expected to tour a house for 30 minutes or less and make a 30 year/several hundred thousand dollar commitment based on that those 30 measly minutes.

Why can't I say, "Hey, I like your house. Before I spend half a mil and eons of heartache and buyers remorse for the next 10 years; could I pay you -let's say $150 a night for the next 4 nights, to test it out?" I want to know how long it takes for the water to get hot; does the floor creak; can I hear every sound between the walls; how weird are the neighbors; what's the traffic like - you know all those really important daily living issues. I want to start a revolution in realty - TEST LIVE YOUR NEXT HOME!

Oh, and by the way, don't ever buy a split foyer. You have to step out for solicitors, guests have to make an instant decision when they come in - up or down; and you can't close the frickin' door while all of this is going on.

So It Begins

How was this blog born? My husband, Kevin, frequently tells me on Friday nights (when I have my best thoughts) that I should write that down. But then I can't remember the next day what it was I was supposed to write down. Could have been the 7 beers the night before , but I can't be sure. My kids do and say crazy things that I want to tell people about, but I forget when I see them. So here you will find my rants , joys, and maddeningly hilarious moments. Come back to laugh at or with me whenever you like - invite others so they won't think they are the only crazy ones!