The Book Begins Thusly

Let's see...today I drank hot chocolate with my girls, I did an upper body workout with that bitch from YourselfFitness----I caught up on Battlestar Galactica while working on some more comic book Valentines, I made the girls' room all spic-and-span----I held office hours and the hands of many students as they bravely (or not) voyage their way through their first paper; I admitted that my cell phone, three times washed, has died and must be replaced by another; I gave my camera into the hands of one beautiful daughter so that she could capture with her own photographic eye the sublime beauty of another daughter-- --and, friends, I began my book:
It's a how-to and a manifesto treating upon lifelong learning as it applies to the family: essentially, the desire to learn and engage with our world is a lifestyle that we can model for our children and participate in with them. I'm interested in exploring not just ways in which we can offer our children enrichment in traditional (and non-traditional) academic areas, but also how we, ourselves can still learn in these areas with our children, and can enjoy learning.

The hands-on, DIY ethic is integral to this process, as is our responsibility to our community and our environment. I plan to include lots of projects, activities, and tutorials, lots of ideas for engaging in these areas within our larger communities, and an overarching premise of self-sufficiency and sustainability.

And, if possible, I plan to make it sound a little more entertaining than what you just read--I'm saving all the witty remarks for the book itself, apparently.

Now, friends...any advice on obtaining a literary agent?

Do You Know Your Joe?

I had a peaceful time today to work on some Valentines that we'll be sending out to friends and family (Christmas newsletter? Hokey. Valentine's newsletter? Fresh and original!). To make these Valentines I'm using some old comic books that Matt finally admitted I could have from his childhood collection. I think this set will be smaller and much simpler than the last set of Valentines I sent out, just because the comics are so cool in themselves that adding too much stuff would just kill it. Here, for instance, are some close-ups of my Valentines in progress. Can you tell what comic book each is from?

1) Spider-man 2) Wonder Woman 3) G.I. Joe 4) Captain America 5) Iron Man 6) X-Men

More interesting, perhaps, might be to try to figure out why I chose each particular image to be a part of a Valentine--usually a very obscure sexual reference that probably only I will find funny.

P.S. Check out the treasury that I'm featured in on etsy! Treasuries are only up for a limited time, so peek sooner rather than later.

The Concert Outfit and the Concert

The concert outfit: Pelvis pendant by sushipot; skulls tank top by Torrid; crocheted shirt from Goodwill (I very carefully cut it away from an old-lady cream-colored pink shell that it was supposed to lie over, because, come on--if you're going to wear a black crocheted top, you're going to wear it over bare skin. Duh.); jeans from Goodwill (awesome, ass-hugging jeans that I hemmed yesterday morning with bias tape made from the cut-away part of the jeans); vegan blue boots from Vegetarian Shoes.

The concert: The music was hot, tight, and just right
some guy made a pass at Molly (twice!)
and I got into a fight.

In other words, it was perfect.

Barbie Gone Wild

We all know that Ken ran into some seriously hard times, emotionally, after the break-up of their too-brief love affair, but Barbie?

Barbie seems to be doing alright.

P.S. My Old Crow Medicine Show concert at the Vogue is tonight! I mentioned to the girls yesterday (while having another marathon button-making session; y'all know how I feel about making buttons with the girls) that Miss Molly and I would be going out on an adventure tonight, and based on all the "Oooh, where are we going?" rhetoric that followed, getting out the door tonight might be...interesting.

But I later realized something that I'd never realized before, on account of I'm never actually on the door end of the getting out part: once I actually get out the door, I bet I won't be able to hear them scream anymore! Not, at least, over the hot rocking of Ketch on the fiddle.

Critter Caps: A Momma + Baby Tutorial

Will wasn't feeling well, and basically napped the morning away, leaving me as Syd's only playmate. Then, just after Will had rallied and gone happily to school (no snow day today!), Syd decided that a half-hour nap was quite sufficient, thank you, and wandered into the study to find me, just having wolfed down a veggie burger and another half-cup of coffee, setting out to grade my second student paper in a stack of probably 93.

You absolutely cannot grade papers with a small child around, but fortunately, as I discovered years ago, they do incorporate well into any manner of the home arts.

It's a funny throwback to my early parenting years, this collaborating with Sydney. Willow has always been the child I've collaborated with the most, from her babyhood when it was the only way to both work and parent, to Sydney's babyhood when it represented the special time Will and I would spend together during Syd's naps, to more lately when Will has turned into a kid who is able to do so much stuff--hot glue, handle a hole punch, work a cordless drill.

But as Syd gradually gives up her afternoon naps and I lose that very last bastion of time to myself in the day, I imagine that she and I will do much more inventing and working together.

Here's what we invented and worked on today: I call them Critter Caps.

You will need: some recycled or stash fabric that has a little horizontal stretch to it--cotton jersey, lightly felted wool sweaters, faux fur, etc.; a sewing machine with a wide zig-zag stitch or a serger; embroidery thread or yarn in a color matching or complementing your fabric.

1. Measure the circumference of your lucky hat-wearer's head and the distance from the crown of her head to the bottom of her ear. Fold your fabric in half and cut through both to make two rectangles whose length is twice the distance from crown to ear (plus a seam allowance) and whose width is half the circumference (plust two seam allowances). Remember--the circumference should have a little stretch to it.2. Stitch the hat, right-sides together, around both sides and the top, and finish the bottom brim however you'd like (zig-zag, serged, bias tape, or having taken care to cut the bottom brim from the finished bottom of a sweater).
3. You now have a big rectangular rectangle hat. Fold up the brim a couple of times (tack it into place if you want) and try it on your lucky hat-wearer. You can either pinch out where you'd like to gather your critter ears while your hat-wearer is wearing her hat, or you can use that crown-to-ear measurement.
4. Gather each top corner into a critter ear shape and tie some tight knots around it with embroidery thread or yarn. Get it really tight!
5. Try it on your critter. Does she like it?
6. Repeat until you have a critter for every member of the family. Don't forget to document important occasions:
P.S. I wrongly assumed that Matt would find faux fur too girly, and instead made him a critter cap out of a much more sedate felted grey wool. This, however, is the kind of man who orders mixed drinks that come with colored sugar and big skewers of fruit and fancy straws, so he totally wants a faux fur critter cap, too.

Snow Day

No school.

No work.

No teaching.

No grocery shopping.

No library.

No post office.

No crafting.

No alone time.

Just this:

Best. Day. Ever!

Look at Me and How Awesomely Famous I Am!

Y'all know how I am so cutting edge in the eco revolution, right? So I often watch Zaproot, which hosts these little news-show clips of breaking news on the enviromental front--they're nice because they usually report positive environmental acts or encourage people in concrete positive environmental acts they themselves can take, etc.--I'm really not so much into downer news because then I feel all bummed and powerless, so I like their method. Matt hates all their quick cuts, by the way, but I'm all, "Dear, it's supposed to be edgy. That's what kids like these days."

Well, imagine my surprise while watching the latest Zaproot to see...well, me!

Keep an eye out at around 51 seconds into the video, and you'll see a screenshot of my Crafting a Green World post about writing my reps to protest the CPSIA:


Ah, fame. I have become so powerful that my mere image can now be used as shorthand for what I represent.