Eavesdropping

Overheard between a mom and her little boy:

Little Boy: In my world, turtles would be blue and they would fly....And dinosaurs would be plaid....And I would have a dinosaur, and it would listen to everything I did...And it wouldn't eat me.

Mom: So do you want yogurt or a cupcake?

Little Boy: Yogurt.

Mom: Okay.

Dirty is as Dirty does

It's funny the things you hang onto from childhood.

It's been coming up a lot in the kitchen with my Do NOT Dirty Another Dish fanaticism.

This morning I grimaced as I was stirring the tea in my travel mug because I had inappropriately chosen a small tea spoon that was causing me to burn the tips of my fingers. The babe gave me an inquisitive look. The spoon's too short, I replied. She suggested that I use another spoon. Before I even responded, I could tell by the look on her face that she had recognized the look on my face and knew what I was going to say. But I already dirtied this one.

I think it was the last straw.

She grabbed a bigger spoon out of the drawer and shoved it into the travel mug. It's a spoon! It's not that hard to clean!

And of course, the babe is right. It seems silly to burn your fingers for the sake of one clean spoon, but it is so hard to let go of those lessons ingrained in us from childhood. I go through all sorts of machinations to keep from dirtying one more dish, particularly when I'm baking. I just loath those recipes that use the words and now, in a separate bowl....

I'm not even sure what the original purpose was - to be more water efficient? energy efficient? labor efficient? a really tenuous argument against consumerism?

Who knows? But I feel sad for my unborn children.

Crafty Things

One of my favorite daily reads is Craftzine's blog, where I learn about all sorts of crafty things going on all over the interwebs. Last week, they featured Craftster: Best of 2009 - the best projects from another crafty website - Craftster. I thought I'd share some of my favorites for those readers who are craftily inclined or just like looking at pretty things.

First, from the reconstructed clothing section, this summertime dress made from an old skirt and a 1970's curtain makes me want to sing Do-re-mi on a hillside with Julie Andrews.

Next, from the machine embroidery section, these absolutely precious owl towels might be the cutest little things I've ever seen. I certainly wouldn't want to wipe my dirty hands on them!

Third, from the dyeing section, is this lovely dragonfly batik-dyed fabric. I have no idea how this actually works, but I always think batik fabrics look so whimsical.

This fabric bowl from the crafty housewares category is just gorgeous. Apparently it's a pretty straightforward technique, but it looks like a lot of hard work to me.

And finally, from the paper crafts category, this delightfully whimsical deck of altered cards that the crafter made for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It's an idea that I'm going to store in my brain somewhere until I have the perfect time to use it.

There are dozens more of these beautiful, creative projects if you follow the Best of 2009 link from above, and for those of you who are into crafts, I highly recommend it. I never spend as much time crafting as I'd like, but I really love being inspired by all of these truly creative people out there.

Cocktails, Vermont style

For those who need a recap, when the babe and I go to Vermont, we stay with the babe's old roommate who now lives in a group house with 3 other girls. To call it a "group house" doesn't entirely cover it - it's more like a family than anything else. It reminds me of a house filled with sisters who truly enjoy each other. Among them, they have a friend group that seems to cover the majority of the people in Burlington. They're known for their weekly or bi-weekly potlucks, with a potluck email list with over 100 people. For Thanksgiving this year, they hosted a potluck with about forty people. They've even been featured in the local paper for their amazing potlucks.

So when we come visit, there's often a potluck or gathering. I've written about at least one of these gatherings before. This time, they did something a little different - a little outside the Burlington hippy norm - and hosted a cocktail party. Complete with pina coladas, Vermont maple moo-moos, and party dresses.

Some of the best things about last night's party (and hence, Burlington):

1. There were two guys wearing dresses. And owning it.

2. The Burlington-ers were delighted with themselves to be hippies having a cocktail party.

3. Almost everyone brought along desserts because even though it wasn't billed as a potluck, Burlington-ers are born potluckers.

4. Underneath most of the party dresses, there were leggings or wool tights.

5. My lack of a party dress was not a problem. One of the gals delightfully outfitted me in an 80s style blue party dress and knee-high red boots.

6. We all stood in lines - girls and guys - and learned a Bollywood dance, which was amazing.

7. The Bollywood dance party turned into an 80s dance party thanks to Pandora's 80s Dance Party station.

8. Which turned into a Pandora TLC station party. And nobody there wanted no scrubs.

9. After-party breakfast this morning included amazing breakfast quesadillas - the perfect hangover breakfast.

As always, Vermont delivers.

Haiti

Generally conversations of the following type really bug me:

person 1: ugh. my hair looks like shit today.

person 2: you should be grateful that you have hair. some people don't have hair.

person 1: um...right.

I don't like how person 2 tries to invalidate person 1's feelings. Yes, we should be grateful for the things we have, but it rarely helps to ignore our own feelings.

However, with that said, I'd like to take a moment to recognize that my current struggles (fear of falling on my lovely ski vacation, a long corporations assignment for my excellent corporations class, etc) are, on a scale of one to ten - one being happy millionaire, ten being currently dying - maybe a two point five.

I'm sending my thoughts and prayers to the people of Haiti and remembering how very much I have to be thankful for.

Gear ain't enough

The babe and I head to Vermont tomorrow for the long weekend. If you're acquainted with me or my blog, you know I adore Vermont and all of our friends there. I should be super excited that we're heading up there in about 24 hours, but for the last week, the excitement just hasn't been there.

Today I kept thinking what is going on here? I love it there. I love them all. Why am I feeling this resistance, hesitancy,...dread? Is there dread? What is that about?

Oh, I remember. It's about this. And this. And this.

You guessed it. We're going skiing again.

I've actually been really excited about it. I got ski gloves, goggles, and ski socks for Christmas. I borrowed bibs from a friend. I talked up my pizza slicing prowess.

But there's this gnawing feeling in my stomach, and this little voice in my head.
Remember when you went careening down the mountain screaming like a little girl? Can't wait to see that again. Mwahahahahaha.
It's actually sort of a big voice now.

It's not that I don't want to do it. I do. I want to do it enough so that I can really be good at it. I really do want to. It's just that right now, the desire is taking a backseat to the fear.

Mighty Indeed

Image from Obama Foodorama

This 'Mighty Michelle' shopping tote would go so well with the Michelle Obama tiny little book (you know those ones they sell in the check-out line at Barnes and Noble?) in my stocking this Christmas.


And I'll also look super trendy at the farmers market.

Short

So it's short now - the hair, I mean.

The babe loves it, and there's been no complaining. In fact, it's been mostly talk of what an amazing neck I have.

Smart girl - using flattery to make sure I never grow it long again.

FemLaw

Last semester of law school.

I've got 5 professors, and only one of them is a man.

And I wasn't even trying.

Hair: The Crazy-Maker

Watching an actress on television today, I decided that I was ready to cut my hair. I started to dial the number for the hair salon.

the babe: what are you doing?

me: i'm calling the hair salon.

the babe: really?! you're going to cut your hair?! now?! (these are not happy exclamations)

Some back story:

About 8 months ago, my hair was chin length. I decided that I wanted to grow it out. The babe expressed her disapproval of this idea (she likes me with short hair), but I really wanted to try out growing it long. I imagined it long and luscious.

It hasn't really turned out that way. Most days I wear it in a ponytail, and I don't like it that much unless I spend like an hour blow drying and straightening or curling it. Which I don't really do. So I've been toying with the idea of cutting it. So this actress put me over the edge.

The conversation continues after I make the appointment:

the babe: cancel the appointment. just wait another month. don't do it now. just wait a month.

me: but i don't like it. i don't want to wait a month.

the babe: but let it grow out. live with it for a month so that you really hate it. so the hatred is seared into your brain.

me: you want it short, though. why don't you want me to cut it? you want me to get this whole hair growing thing out of my system, don't you?

the babe: if you don't, then you're going to want to grow it out again.

me: (leaning over to the babe) i have a secret for you. i'm going to want to do it again. no matter what.

the babe: (putting her hands on my shoulders and turning me to face her) listen to me. listen. it's like you bought a house. and you're in the middle of renovations. and if you sell it now, you'll only make $400,000. and you won't really make a return on your investment. BUT... BUT if you just let the renovations finish, you'll make $500,000! A whole $100,000 more!!! JUST FINISH THE RENOVATIONS!!!

me: why do you care about this so much? has it been so tortured for you to look at me for the last 8 months while my hair has been growing out?

the babe: LONG HAIR HAS BEEN EVERYWHERE! IN THE SHEETS! IN THE BATHROOM!!! EVERYWHERE!!! (labored breathing) i'm thinking long-term. i just don't want it to happen again.

The truth comes out.