re: rebate

i've been thinking about this economic stimulus package & our responsibility with the rebate $ we receive. thinking things like: if the gov't is giving us money with the intention that the U.S. economy will be stimulated (SPEND THE MONEY!), then we ought to spend it, right? is paying a bill "spending it" the way the gov't is intending? and if we buy goods...should we be very specific about buying U.S. made products?

any thoughts?

all cookies have their place

as much as i love homemade cookies of any kind (most recently i have enjoyed molasses cookies made by my pal susie...) the pillsbury ready to bake sugar cookies have also been a hit around here lately. they are just too easy, so little mess, and yes, they taste good too. maybe not as good as those molasses cookies, but they are adequate for that cookie craving.

fired up, ready to go

on friday night, my friend heidi and i went to the barack obama rally here. pretty sweet. it had the energy of a rock concert. and substance too. and then he won south carolina. exciting times. historic times. and fun to be a party to it.

click on the title to link to his victory speech on youtube. pretty great.

strange to hear of Heath Ledger's death yesterday. when Michael & I heard about it, we both felt like we got punched in the gut. and were suprisingly saddened over it. i don't know if it was because it came as a surprise, or because he was as old (young) as both of us, or a reminder of our own mortality, or what. i was surprised that i would be so moved over the death of a celebrity.

it happens

today is one of those days when i can try everything that i think of, but the kid will still not take a nap. he's not crying, or whining. he's just sitting in his crib chanting "b-ball" which sounds kind of like "meatball." what is a mother to do. early to bed tonight i guess.

Bible Reading Program for Slackers & Shirkers

i came across this great bible reading program the other day & thought i'd pass it along as a great resource. there are no dates on this plan. there are about 3 chapters assigned per day. in summary, it goes like this:

sunday: O.T. Poetry
monday: Pentateuch
tuesday: O.T. History
wednesday:O.T. History
thursday: O.T. Prophets
friday: N.T. History
saturday: N.T. Epistles

with no dates included (replaced by a simple check-box), the "i'm behind ten million chapters" problem is averted & you're on your way through the scriptures in a semi-orderly fashion.

also, the rest of the website has some fantastic resources, articles, etc.

i saw esau

i checked this book out from the library for my kids. i was previewing it this morning & found this illustration.

stuff you oughtta check out

these blogs are SO inspiring. if you have some time, sit down & enjoy their projects, designs, snapshots, links, etc. man!

my polaroid blog
soule mama (great links!!)
kate ortiz
eight by eight (a project blog between two friends! LOVE IT!)
shimandsons
uniform STUDIO JOURNAL (really cool)

dewey decimal

jason got home yesterday. it was perfect. i made a fresh pot of coffee. we sipped & played a game of "cold war" (the CIA keeps winning! aaah! my skills are diminishing) while the kids slept. then i bundled up & went out to get a library card. i love the library. i love being in there (why do i always have to go to the bathroom when i'm at the library?!), surrounded by words, ideas, smelly people, & the opportunity to take home any book that i want...for free!!

some books i requested:
finding your inner mama
the book book
how to make books
The Creative Family

as i was driving home (listening to The National [buy their album "Boxer"!!, especially the "Fake Empire" & "29 Years" tracks]), i said out loud, "i am in love with this town!". me & this small town living...we're on our honeymoon!! we're ecstatic & enamored! aaah.

go back to sleep!

my girls are down the halls saying to each other "charlie bit me". see video:

where you live

since a number of us are old-home owners, i thought i'd post a link to a neat little collection of bungalow floor plans (sears catalog & others) from the early 1900's. i thought i say cheryl's house plan on there & possibly ambf's (similar). check it.

whocares: the next generation

annabelle keeping a watchful eye on ben last week. seems like she was that little not so long ago.

things you never thought you'd see...

i was on the paste website this morning and was piqued to discover that val kilmer has released a folk album. and me, with an itunes gift card burning a hole in my pocket.

shaker your quaker

this morning i couldn't make myself walk up to the fitness center...so instead i stayed under the covers & watched a documentary about the shakers. i feel mentally stronger, itellectually more fit, & happy that i didn't have to walk home with sweaty hair in 10 degree weather.

my favorite fellas

we bought some lego figures as christmas presents & these are my favorite of the lot.

la doctora

there's an article in the peoria newspaper & our own dr. kgv is one of the featured doctors. there are some great color photos in the paper, but i'm not sure they're on the website.

anyone know a good plumber??

erg. we have avoided it too long, and now NEED a plumber to unclog our standstill drain in the basement. mind you, it wasn't standstill until we tried to do something about it (er,snake out the clog, right) which somehow, against all laws of science, just made it worse.

so anyway, i figured i'd ask all of you if you have had any good experiences with any plumbers, because we have just never been in need before.

gratuitous baby photo

here he is, for those of you who can't get a look in person:



feel like i've been in a time warp for the past week. finally got out to run a few errands today....it felt maybe too good to be out driving around! this week michael goes back to work full-time and i'll be left to lose my mind managing my two kiddos. i keep asking myself, how DID my mom do it? i think i can, i think i can.... :)

new endeavor

i couldn't resist.

It's almost like he won the lottery.

Well, not quite... But, here is my husband with notice from our government stating that he has been selected randomly to be an election official. They say he will possibly have to participate in the next four elections after taking an instructional class. They also say he will be compensated for his work. This might be Kyle's most exciting minimum wage job ever.

A PBS marathon.

PBS will start airing the complete BBC Jane Austin series (yes, all of them) starting this Sunday.

you have to say something else

the first disc arrive in my postbox today. aah. here are some of my favorite quotes:

What I, like, dread is when people who know you in completely different ways end up in the same area. You have to develop this, like, combination you on the spot.

When I was 12, my mother gave me my sex talk. I'm not sure either of us has ever recovered.

People tell you to be yourself...Like yourself is some defined thing.

You know how sometimes the last sentence you said, like, echoes in your brain? And it just keeps sounding stupider? And you have to say something else just to make it stop?

Say Yes To Carrots

So, I am not a big product promoter or someone who gets hung up on beauty products, but I came across a new line recently that I am head over heels for - 'Yes to Carrots.' The hair, skin, and face products are made in Israel by a Dutch company and recently the company signed a contract with Walgreens to sell in the states. The products (and ingredients) are amazing and SO reasonably priced. My favorite so far: the eye cream (although I also love the shampoo, conditioner, and body soap. As soon as my moisturizer runs out, I'm picking up this brand).

Use the link to check out the website, or just rush on over to Walgreens to check it out yourself (or come to my house for a sample - the bottles are huge!)

sharing sunrise

it was the kind of blue light that's more like fog or a dream filter. the shades were tied up, the press pot half-full, & half of the kids in the house were sleeping. violet was playing a little video game we usually keep in the bathroom for those exceptionally long visits. darby & i were drinking coffee in our PJs.

"i miss those early morning breakfasts," darby said, and i knew she was talking about those 6am WC meet-ups. remember the HEM radio interview listening party? that was a goodie.

our house here is so similar to the old one that today felt too much like those old mornings. and when darby & ben packed up their gear & left, i felt the same way i used to feel when you all would leave...that it was too quiet & that i was sad & missed you.

my grandparents' house

yesterday i went to visit my grandparents at their farm near charter oak, iowa. sometimes it's hard to get them to talk about their childhoods or their family histories, but yesterday they seemed glad to tell stories. i've wondered for a long time when their families immigrated to iowa and so we dug out the scrap books and photo albums. they came from germany in the 1890s, some settling on farms in eastern iowa, and some in western iowa, or io-way, as they say it.

my favorite story from the day was one my grandma told me about her parents' old washing machine that had some kind of motor that you had to pull a string to start. she said that once when her dad was in the fields and her mom was washing clothes, the washer wouldn't work. her dad came in from the fields to fix it and brought his team of horses, hitched to a grass mower. he got the washer to start, but it scared the horses, who took off through the alfalfa fields, dragging the mower behind. grandma said it was just like something in a western.

Remember me, part two

Christian Rossetti wrote one of my favorite poems "Goblin Market" and the oft sung "In The Bleak Midwinter", set to music by Gustav Holst. Rossetti was viewed by her colleagues as a feminist and staunch avdvocate for human rights. Here is the cover for the collection of poems illustrated by her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The model for the cover was his wife, Elizabeth Sidel who overdosed on opiates most likely due to post-partum depression, but she was a popular model for many pre-Raphaelite painters (ex. Ophelia by John Evertt Millais, 1862).
After her death Dante painted, "Beata Beatrix" as an homage to her.

In stark contrast we see her self-portrait as lying well outside of the Pre-Raphaelite idiom.
Check out "When I am Laid in Earth" linked to this post.

i quit life

a few weeks ago i decided to quit my life on the web, except here at whocares & through email. i deleted my blog & deactivated my facebook account.

life had become too virtual. i never actually spoke to friends. i wasn't extremely motivated to make new ones because i was connected to other people daily...only not really. i needed to cut all of the marginal obligations out & get back to real living. tangible living. observing life firsthand instead of on a screen.

i'm still at odds with my decision.

but it is easier for me to focus, now. i have made two good friends this past week, and it seems like i'm more focused on figuring out life here as opposed to having a pseudo-life here & another parallel virtual life where lots of things are possible. like i'm actually living again.

but still, i don't know.

starting from scratch: memoirs of a wandering cook

patty kirk's new food memoir, "starting from scratch: memoirs of a wandering cook" came out on january 1st! i just got a copy yesterday and it looks to be great. it's written like a memoir with all the recipes mentioned in the essay included at the end. i know i'm biased, having learned most of what i know about writing and about cooking from kirk, but i think you all would really like it. i read the first chapter this morning while i was eating oatmeal and my first thought was that i had to tell you all about it. great on all counts. check it out.

also, here's a link to her blog: http://amateurbeliever.blogspot.com/

a 'Young' son!!!

12:46am. 8lbs 4oz.
liam michael.

CONGRATULATIONS to lindsay & michael!!! way to push that baby out, linds!! hope they give you one of those inflated donuts to sit on!!

and the beat goes on

oh, the new year is off to a good start! we came home a day earlier, enjoyed puttering around the house while the kids played with their toys, & had a great dinner with my in-laws. i was feeling a bit melancholy this morning that jason had to return to work today, but i decided to get up, make the coffee & read a little to ward off the blues. i dialed his mobile number to say "have a good day" and was greated with a, "yahoo!! i'm not working 'til monday!"

so my boy is on his way home & we have the extended holiday vacation we wish we had planned for!!! and tonight i'm going bowling. can it get any better?!

It's All Greek to Me ....

Hey All,

It was so fun to see all of you at the Who Cares Holiday Party at Alicia's the other night ... and while you were missed, Daphne, it was so much fun to hear of your engagement on speaker phone!  What highlight!

I am very excited for all of you to be the very first pairs of eyes (besides myself and the web designer) to see the totally new (and not yet finished ... as  you'll note by all the Greek copy) website for the coalition I started last year - Opportunity@Work.  You can use the title of the blog to view the site.  We're going fully public with multiple, statewide press conferences on Jan. 30 (barring any hiccups).  After a year, I cannot believe this is finally happening.  :-)

the official blog announcement

caleb and daphne are engaged!! it was so fun to be able to share our good news with you ladies (and your men) on speakerphone at the who cares bash. but this here is the official blog announcement, complete with ring photos. caleb has the photos from the engagement moment, but i am a little freaky looking in them anyway (it's a crazed, glazed look in the eye!)

the ring finger one is a meteorite! i keep telling caleb that i'm outta this world. and he just rolls his eyes.

we'll drink a cup of kindness yet

happy new year, whocares!

here's to 2008, another year of transition for some and progress for others! read those books! rear those kiddos! teach those classes! love those husbands! call those friends! heal those ills! play that thing! educate, nurture, feed and clothe, learn, experiment, sit quietly, breathe.

Princess Perry

Just wanted to let you all know, our ultrasound yesterday was clear as day - we are having a girl! Little Ella Katherine Perry is due to arrive around May 18th. I really appreciate that you gals have been interested and curious to know who this little person is.

Also, It was SO SO SO good to see you all Saturday.
Those who did not attend were truly missed.