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!

A new hobby and a soft hat...

I've been meaning to re-learn knitting for several years now. It's gotten to the point where it's kind of embarrassing to admit that I can't knit very well. But, over the years I've learned that I really only enjoy things that are pleasing to touch and metal knitting needles and cheap yarn do not fall under those categories. I also like more instant gratification than knitting tends to provide but having kids is making me (more) patient. It also makes it almost impossible to sew with any regularity. All this to say, I picked up knitting again. And to honor the new hobby (and facilitate the take-it-with-you nature of the craft) I made myself a knitting bag.


I copied this bag from a friend's bag. She got hers from Africa (not sure where on that vast continent...) and I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. Which meant that I took it off her shoulder and measured it and took notes on it and plotted out how to sew it. Then I stuck the notes in my sewing cupboard and forgot about it. When I realized I needed a dedicated knitting bag it was the perfect excuse to try this pattern out. It was super easy and went together in 45 minutes (with me trying to figure it out as I went and nursing the baby, etc). I figure next time will take maybe a half hour. The fabric is a lovely but awkwardly sized scrap I got in a bag from freecycle. The button was in a grab bag of single buttons I got as a birthday gift. (sorry the picture's kinda dark... I lost my light)

And after all that talk about knitting, I've got a crocheted hat to share :) This is for Mr Man who was not too happy with his "itchy hat" (that was my childhood hat). It's just a basic blue & black beanie. He's asked for mittens and a scarf, too but we'll see since he's presently refusing to actually wear the hat. Maybe I'll knit him a scarf so I can learn how to switch yarns while knitting. The yarns are from my stash and from the store. Almost free :)

The pledge...

I found this blog a while back and thought it would be fun to jump in. So I pledged for 6 months of no purchasing of new clothes (barring socks & undies) til June :) It should be fun. I need to overhaul my closet anyway so it holds only clothes that fit and flatter me!

And as long promised, I'm sharing the Christmas clothes I made for the kids. Mr Man got this Christmasy green shirt and spiffy slim pants. The patterns were from the Spring 2008 issue of Ottobre magazine. The material for the shirt was a stash buster using scraps from a sling made a couple years ago for a friend. The pants are reconstructed men's wool slacks. I felted them a bit first to cover up a couple moth holes and make them a little tougher- they looked super cute and I think felting the wool made them soft enough for 3 year old sensitive skin!









And what Christmas Eve would be complete without Christmas jammies? Both the kidlets got jammies out of this soft purple star flannel. The Mr Man picked out ladybug buttons for them both (big ones for him and little ones for the Little Bits). The material is another stash buster... I don't know why I had like 4 yards of this stuff, but it's fun and warm! Little Bits only got a shirt (not shown) since we EC at night and pants kinda interfere.











Little Bits outfit coordinated with Mr Man's with a nice cranberry...I couldn't resist! And actually, Mr Man collar is underlined with material from her shirt and her pinafore is faced with material from his shirt. The patterns for the pinafore and pants were also from the Spring 08 issue of Ottobre. The material for the pinafore is taken from a skirt from a vintage store's bag sale. This skirt had a waist band that fit my upper thigh (and I'm only a size 12... not that big, mmkay?). I've never met anyone who might have actually fit into this thing which is probably why it was in the bag sale pile! The shirt used to be a table runner and the velveteen for the pants was a stash buster scrap.