I'm back...

I'll be posting the hand-bag tutorial in the next couple days plus I have oodles of clothes to share with you (Easter dress fun)! And I even have a "real" post of the contemplative kind kicking around in the back of my brain. But first, I must get through Easter weekend and do some serious backing up of all things important off this hard drive!

I'm alive!

I promise I'm still alive. My computer's power cord quit on me about a month ago and I've been trying to check email on hubby's computer in between his work (hard since he edits on the computer all day and much of the night). I do have the handbag tutorial coming up (pictures being held hostage by the powerless computer) and a couple re-fashions to share (again pics being held hostage). Soon, I promise, soon!

My favorite books... a comfortable list :)

Some friends & I have been sharing book lists on Facebook so I thought I'd share here, too. The criteria are: no repeat authors and to especially list the books you go back to over and again. When I sat down to write the list however, I realized that I was having a really hard time limiting myself to one book per favorite author. So this has become a list of favorite authors in some ways.

In writing this list a couple truths were pressed upon me: I prefer to read as an escape and really love fiction and fantasy (no surpirse there, but apparently most of my friends are less this way)! And I guess I'm also a romantic at heart (blush, blush). Though, there is little romantic about Flannery O'Connor and she is my #2!

Each of these books gets read almost every year, some of them more often than that. They are all dear to my heart and bring me comfort in their familiar words. I'd love to hear what your repeat reads are! Leave a me a comment with a link if you want to share :)

1. Jane Austen: Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice & Sense and Sensibility in that order, though I re-read her complete works about once a year.
2. Flannery O'Connor: the complete works of short stories
3. CS Lewis: The space trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength) over Chronicles of Narnia any day.
4. LM Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island :)
5. George MacDonald: The Princess & the Goblin, The Fisherman's Lady, The Marquis' Secret
   
6. Cold Sassy Tree, Olive Ann Burns
7. Gap Creek, Robert Morgan
8. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
9. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
   
10. Deerskin, Robin McKinley

February Goals

I feel compelled to share these here in the hopes that public humiliation will keep me accountable. Here goes:

In the month of February I am hoping

• to purge the house of 500 items of clutter
• to organize and consolidate my sewing closet (which is threatening to take over the house at this point)
  
• to regain control over the laundry (which is taking over what remains of the house)

So on March 1st I'll tell you how I did. Maybe I'll even have done it all!

An assignment for the activist (or crafter) in you...

We're making progress, little by little. As I posted below, enforcement on the CPSIA has been delayed for a year. However, this is not the final step nor is it really a victory. The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) has made it clear that they cannot do much to correct CPSIA. A bill (actually a Technical Ammendment to CPSIA) is being introduced to the Senate to allow the CPSC the authority to correct the law. This is where things either fall apart as folks lose steam or we maintain our momentum and move forward. So, what can you do? Check every step below! (and to give due credit these are copied from an email from The Handmade Toy Alliance)

1. Call your Senator (switchboard: 202-224-3121).
2. Identify yourself as a constituent and ask to speak with the Senator or the staff assistant who follows Commerce issues.
3. Ask him/her to co-sponsor the CPSIA Regulatory Relief Legislation, and tell them if they have questions about the legislation they can contact Tom Jones in Senator DeMint’s DC office at 202-224-6121. Tom’s email address is tom_jones@commerce.senate.gov
4. Ask them to vote for the CPSIA Regulatory Relief legislation when it comes to the Senate floor, possibly as an amendment to the stimulus package as has been rumored.
5. Get five friends to do steps 1-4.

OK, I realize I'm posting this at 9:45 pm. But do this tomorrow. Or Monday since tomorrow's Friday and there's probably no one on the Hill tomorrow ;) But do it!

Good news... I guess

It looks like the CPSIA law has been delayed for a year. But I'm not a lawyer and frankly find the wording to be nebulous at best. So I guess this is good news. It's certainly not bad news anyway.

An encouraging bit of news

This morning my dear husband received a call from Senator Kit Bond's office in regards to the letters we sent a couple weeks back about the CPSIA law about to go into effect (see the "Save Handmade" button on the sidebar). I missed the call and haven't called back yet, but I am very encouraged that the office is in fact taking this seriously and is apparently working on the side of our nation's small businesses. I'll report back after I've spoken with the aid!