little feet, big sky

Our house has been dying of clutter for as long as I can remember. The spouse-unit and I came with separate households and over the years, stuff has just accumulated. After several unsuccessful attempts to tackle the disaster in our own, we finally called in professional help.

Our NAPO-certified organizer first came over for an hour to assess the damage. She walked through the house with us, room by room, listening to our hopes (and dreams) and pointing out things that worked and didn’t work. We both liked her and her ideas and methodology, but a major selling point for me was that she had four kids. It was great that she had practical experience organizing a home with kids. She prepared us in advance that, for the size of our humble dwelling, we would have to downsize our stuff by 50%.

So far, it’s been awesome. We’ve done the living room, kitchen, the guest/t.v.-watching room, and the spouse’s office space and while there still stuff to go through, having tossed out so much old junk has been freeing. A lot of it was just getting rid of things that didn’t fit the space we had. (Like half of my yarn!) The spouse had a couple of near-fainting moments from having to part with such cool leftovers as the robotic dinosaur, but recovered quickly enough to fight the tougher battles, like over his numerous multiplying-like-wet-Mogwai network cables. *rolls eyes*

At the end of the day, good organizers don’t come cheap, but since it’s starting to feel like a whole new house and it’s taken us this long to get here, I consider it an investment well made.

I’ve been dabbling in cocktail drinks again, to get ready for the upcoming barbecue and summer party season. I’m not sure if these have names already, but if not, I’ve named them myself. :-)

I love Bailey’s and Kahlua and other rich liqueurs, but dairy is out of the question for me. These satisfy my sweet tooth once the bebe is down for the night. Enjoy!

Pirates’ Almond Joy

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. creme de cacao
• 1 oz. Malibu Coconut Rum

Shake over ice & serve in shot glasses.

Butterfinger

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. creme de cacao
• 1 oz. Buttershot

Shake over ice & serve in shot glasses.

And for those times when I want something fresh and fruity without the fuss:

Street Margarita

• 2 oz. vodka
• 2 oz. triple sec
• 2 oz. fresh lime juice

Fill a old-fashioned or cocktail glass with crushed ice. Shake over ice and pour into glass. Sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt on top.

After stumbling around lately (in the cosmic sense), I’ve decided to start writing seriously. It’s a strange decision considering I’m hardly the typical English-major-writer-type, but it feels like the right decision, if you know what I mean. I’ve been practically walking on air for the most part since thinking of this and have a general sense of hope and optimism that’s been missing from my life for years.

I also wonder about what the impact will be on my blogging here. I’m already struggling to find enough time to write my own stuff, let alone blog, but I’m also getting better at writing by volume, so maybe it will equal out somewhere. Hopefully, I’ll find a reliable sitter to help mind Spice once in a while and that could free up some time for me to curl up with some tea and my laptop and get some uninterrupted writing time in.

In the meantime, please bear with me while I get my schedule sorted out and here’s to following your dreams, however pie-in-the-sky they may be!

Lord, what a rough week!

Yesterday, I couldn’t find my keys. I was due at a playdate/parenting support group meeting at 11 a.m. and was totally ready to head out the door with Spice wrapped up in our wrap and a diaper bag on my shoulder. Car keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Phone? Check. House keys? Umm.. I check all the usual spots and a few unusual ones. Still, no keys. By this time I was 10 minutes late and losing hope of finding them, and had so been looking forward to going. (This group is the ultimate mommy-venting space, so it’s the mother’s equivalent of a trip to the spa.) I took Spice out of the wrap so I could search under things better and put her in our new Pack N’ Play, which she did not appreciate. Between the missing keys, the bad morning and now a crying baby, I had a minor meltdown. *sigh* Took two kava and felt better, but still – being stuck all day at home sucked arse. :-(

It’s been a crazy two weeks. The spouse-unit has been busy with work stuff, so we’ve been like two passing ships in the night. (Sometimes literally, like Sunday night which he spent in a datacenter.) I’ve barely gotten to the gym once or twice, and since I’m still without a babysitter, that means I’ve been handling Spice on my own almost 24/7. Last Saturday, the spouse-unit was home for long enough that I had him take Spice just so I could clean the house. I’m so tired, exhausted really, and was totally counting on housecleaners coming today to help a bit. But, alas, they’ve just called and cancelled as one of them is sick.

Yes. This is my life this month. I remember going on a walk around Silverlake with some other mothers back when Spice was about 4-months-old. There was a young mother with an 8-month-old, and she looked frazzled; a little spacey, tired, a little unkempt and disheveled and her son was happily beaming in his PJs, since that’s how they’d run out of the house. I remember thinking how crazy it seemed (not wanting to be too judgmental even in my head in case I was like that one day), but of course, sometimes you can’t really relate until you get there yourself. Now, I want to hunt her down, call her up and say “OMG, I totally get how you were that day! I’m so there!” but I don’t have her number, let alone remember her name. (Heh, it’s a good day if I can remember my own name.)

I just have to grit my teeth and bear it. I’ve been trying to get out more and trying to hook up with other mother’s in the same place. As much as I find Ning annoying, I’ve also started a parenting group, the Hollywood Parents Network for networking with other mothers in the area. Feel free to join!

I’ve always wanted to get into wraps for baby-wearing. I guess it’s just been the ultimate convenience, a way to carry your baby that’s traditional, simple, easy to care for, no rings, buckles, snaps, velcro, etc. Unfortunately, it’s also the way with the steepest learning curve, as figuring out to secure them safely while staying comfortable is a little tricky. I recently splurged on a short (3.5m) Vatanai wrap in Maruyama and have been totally in love with it since it arrived. But a little backstory first…

My first wrap was a brown Moby wrap. Simple and cheap, I still remember the complete feeling of joy I had two weeks after Spice was born when I managed to wander around the house eating a bowl of watermelon with both hands free while she slept snuggled against my chest. I was hooked on baby wearing. Unfortunately, the heavy jersey was hot and heavy in our California summers and I put it aside for cooler weather. I bought a Gypsy Mama gauze wrap, but returned it as soon as it arrived because it was also thick. I was also disappointed with the length and the dragging-ends-on-the-ground issue. A few visits to thebabywearer.com and the now missing ~elly rebozo page had me set on a rebozo, or rebozo-length non-stretchy wrap, but I put it off out for expense, disappointment in the Gypsy Mama wrap, and my fear of no being able to master the various carries comfortably enough. Added to this was that, come winter and cooler weather, Spice was too heavy for our stretchy Moby wrap and I started to write off wraps in favor of the Ergo I was using while eyeing other soft-structured carriers.

Still, in an effort to give it one final try, I hit up thebabywearer.com forums again and found a few references to warm weather wraps. The best recommendation for someone using a Vatanai wrap was from a mother in Australia. I mean, Australia’s pretty warm, right? :-) $100 was a little steep for a wrap, but from looking at the FSOT listings, I could see it had a pretty good resale value in case I didn’t like it, so I jumped.

I can’t imagine parting with it now. Sometimes, I put it for wash and toy with the idea of getting another one to use when I put it for wash, or at least, that’s the excuse I tell myself. It’s so soft and sturdy and it has the perfect “grippiness” to hold my 20lbs. of sweetness right where I tie her without budging an inch. The fabric isn’t thin, but it’s not heavy or heating. It seems to conform to my body temp pretty well, which is awesome here in California, but will be downright essential when we go to Malaysia in the summer. I have a front kangaroo carry down pat, and a pretty good back kangaroo carry, too. I’ve even figured out how to tie it loosely on for the easiest pop-ability, and have made it as pop-able as the Angelpack buckle tai. I imagine when Spice is standing/walking, I’ll get the back carry just as easy. If you’re in doubt about carries, it also came with several charts of step-by-step pictures for several carries that had us successful in an hour.

Of course, one of the things I love best about a non-woven stretchy wrap is it’s versatility. I love having something that doubles as a blanket, a nursing cover, a sun shade, a towel and more and that cleans up as easily as tossing in the washer & dryer with the clothes. (As you can see from the pic, it also worked as an impromptu baby-belt to keep Spice safely and comfortably seated in one of our patio chairs.) It folds/packs down to virtually nothing and the colors on the Maruyama are just perfect – pink, but muted and sweet. I’ve become a wrap addict and it’s all thanks to elegant Vatanai wrap.

In spite of being child-distracted and tired, I must have been a half-decent wife lately. The spouse-unit recently gifted us with a Kindle. We’d talked about it before, as I’ve been an avid eReader eBook buyer for years now, but I just wasn’t terribly impressed with the first-gen Kindle. I’ve gotten quite used to backlit devices and the unlighted Kindle always made me nervous. I couldn’t imagine how realistic paper-like text would be more valuable to me than the ability to read in forced bad lighting. (Think of trying to read in the dark next to sleeping baby…) Still, with the new slimmer Kindle, the spouse-unit splurged and we tried it out.. and still have it.

Really, the text is quite beautiful. On first try, the page flash is annoying but over a couple of days, I got used to it and hardly notice it. (Apparently it has something to do with all the electronic inks being realigned on the ‘page’.) I like being able to adjust the font size because I tend to read smaller fonts and more text on a whole page faster in the middle of the day, but come nightfall, my eyes are tired and setting the font larger makes it easier to read. I do still miss backlit, and until the Kindle for Amazon iPhone app recently came out, I just stopped reading on the Kindle once I went to bed. Now, I just make sure to sync the Kindle, get ready for bed and curl up next to the sleeping baby with my iPhone and the screen brightness set down to low. (No wonder I seem to be getting less sleep lately.. hmm.) We did get the clip-on Kindle light, but it’s just too bright for me to use in bed with the baby, though I imagine it would be great on airplanes and the like. I’ve had a few software glitches with the Kindle, mostly not syncing to the latest page read accurately, and one time it seemed to reset and lose my latest read place entirely, sending me back a few chapters. But these problems were minor and often because I was switching between Kindle and iPhone within minutes and, I’m assuming, not giving them enough time to sync properly.

All in all, I’m enjoying it. I would be totally sold if I could figure out an easy way to get my old DRM’d eReader .PDB books on the Kindle, as I have 1776 to finish reading and it would be awesome on the Kindle. I’d like for the “sync to furthest read” feature to be able to turn on the wireless, sync and turn off the wireless again. Also, it would be nice if the magazine subscriptions supported bookmarks, and if the iPhone app supported magazine subscriptions. Other than that, Amazon has a reasonably decent product on their hands.

I recently bought Spice a lovely set of alphabet blocks from Uncle Goose ($32). These blocks are just gorgeous and would make an excellent baby shower gift. Uncle Goose only makes blocks and their sustainable Michigan basswood blocks meet U.S. and European safety standards and are made with non-toxic inks.

Each block is 1-3/4 inches square, and the sides vary in their designs: two embossed sides per block, letters, numbers & numeral names, and animal pictures with their names. They’re light but solid and feel sturdy, and I can imagine passing them down to other kids in the future.

As if that wasn’t cool enough, Uncle Goose also makes Braille blocks, Nursery Rhyme blocks, and foreign language blocks for languages such as Russian, Danish, Arabic and Chinese.

I’ve been making a lot more no-knead bread lately and have cut the steps down to the following.

• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp active dry yeast
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the flour, salt, yeast & sugar in a large bowl. Add the water & stir until you have a sticky/shaggy dough. Drizzle the oil on top and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place 16-20 hours. “Punch down” by gently gathering the sides in and turning it over a few times in the bowl, then cover again and leave to rise another 2 hours. Preheat oven to 450 deg with a 3- or 4-quart cast-iron dutch oven with lid inside for at least 30 minutes. (Our oven helps heat our house, so I do this while the bread rises a second time.) Carefully remove the hot dutch oven from the oven, remove the lid and quickly turn the dough into the pot, using a rubber spatula or dough scraper to scrape the dough from the bowl as needed. Cover the dutch oven and place in oven. Bake at 450 for 20-30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes, then turn bread out onto a cooling rack for 30 minutes.

I usually start the dough the night before just before I go to bed, or while making dinner and take it upstairs to camp out next to the spouse-unit’s computers, since it’s a pretty even warmth there. :-) If I start heating the oven and punch down the dough by 5pm the next day, we have a fresh loaf of bread in time for dinner. I’m experimenting with other flavors and add-ins. I tried substituting a cup of rye flour for 1 cup of white flour and the result was good, but quite denser. The spouse-unit enjoyed it, though, so I’ll be playing around more with that. Another idea I’m eager to try is some kind of garlic herb bread – would go great with winter soup.

After ker-fuffing around (as my aunt would say), I finally ordered a new SSC (soft-structured carrier). I’ve been using the spouse-unit’s Ergo a whole lot in the past two months, but hated several things about it, including how fugly, bulky and limited it was. What I really wanted was a padded mei tai (I have an unpadded one), but the long straps are killer to keep from dragging on the ground. I finally realized I wanted a “buckle tai” – a low-frills mei tai with buckles instead of straps.

The major players on the buckle tai market are the Beco Butterfly II and the Catbird Pikkolo. They’re remarkably similar, including gorgeous designs and quality workmanship, but have a few notable differences. The Butterfly has an inner sling that the baby sits in; it’s both a feature and a PITA. It means you can do pretty safe Santa tosses to get the baby on your back, or pass the carrier off to someone else with the baby still inside. But it also means an extra, likely annoying step if you & your kid are the adventurous sort. So I was all set to order the Pikkolo until I realized how short the body is. Spice is tall for her age and since the Pikkolo doesn’t have a headrest part, she would be hanging out over the top a lot.

So I googled a bit more and found a comment somewhere that the Angelpack was good for taller babies and those nursing in carriers. I instantly loved the simplicity of it and promptly ordered one in Lotus from Frogmama. Lorene from Frogmama had incredible service (she responded almost instantly to both my emails the day I ordered) and shipped my Angelpack out the same day I ordered it!

It arrived last week and I instantly put Spice inside. I ditched the removable chest strap buckle and instead crossed the straps behind my back and buckled them. This is by far the most comfortable non-wrap front carry I’ve ever had. Unlike the Ergo with that god-forsaken thing to buckle behind your neck of all places, crossing the straps on the Angelpack means nice padding over your shoulders and across the upper part of your back, plus easy buckles & adjusting at your waist. It was just as easy and comfortable to Santa-toss Spice onto my back and cross the straps in front later to get from food prep done for dinner.

The print, Lotus, is beautiful. It looks elegant and casual at the same time. The whole carrier looks sleek and I’ve gotten compliments on it already. The straps extend quite a bit, and easily fit my mother who happens to be quite a bit fluffier than me. Perhaps my only complaint it that the hood is a little awkward. There are toggle clasps on the cords to adjust the hood space and when the hood is tucked into the inside pocket, I feel like the clasps are hard and bulky against Spice’s back. I’ve resorted to tucking in the fabric and straps of the hood and leaving the clasps hanging out behind Spice’s back – not elegant, but I’m sure it’s more comfortable for her. The hood fabric is also a little narrow and I can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or not. Spice is one of those babies that doesn’t like things over her head, so I guess less fabric is better, but when I pull it up, it seems to barely cover her neck to the top of her head. I’ll have to see how it works out as she gets older.

One of the other moms in our playgroup had the nifty Sophie the Giraffe teether by Vulli. This thing is like kiddie crack to babies that are teething. It’s simple and made of natural rubber, but it has all the right angles to make it easy to grab and a small squeaker inside to make it interesting once in a while. It’s also small and thin enough to tuck inside the wrap or baby carrier with Spice so that she has something else to grab and chew on other than my hair. :-)