September 29, 2011 by Jennie
Is it just me? Does this Christmas ornament seem not quite right? I may be in the minority, as it appears to be sold out.
It seems like a lot of gravitas for a beacon of celebration to bear. Are the “glittering accents,” wee snow-dusted trees, and jaunty font supposed to compensate?
Category Stuff | Tags: | 1 Comment
September 26, 2011 by Jennie
Pretty sure some weeding is in order. Unless I’m completely off base and there are local 5-to-12-year-olds who happen to think Gary Coleman, Marie Osmond, and other 1982 celebrities are, like, totally awesome. If I’m right, the library could just sell it for $189.99 and buy fifteen more copies of Captain Underpants.
Category Books, Media | Tags: | No Comments
September 20, 2011 by Jennie
Four more weeks, and I’ll be shed of my homework pile. And then the site should start to look more spiffy. Let’s hope, anyhow. I’ve had no design epiphany yet, and I was rather sentimentally attached to the old one, which doesn’t help.
Thanks to Google Reader Bundles, I easily plopped down a page of links. So that’s new. Not necessarily up-to-date — I think many may be dead — but I culled out the ones I knew to be defunct off the top of my head.
I’ve noticed a couple searches for specific projects, like the Altoids Advent Calendar. In the interest of my sanity (among, erm, other things), I won’t be carrying my entire archives forward publicly. But I do plan on reinstating some of the more useful posts on a separate part of the site.
Category Blogkeeping | Tags: | 2 Comments
September 19, 2011 by Jennie
Vivienne shared a seemingly magical tip about a ridiculously easy clean for gas stove grates: a very small amount of ammonia, a big zipper bag, and time. That’s it! And I can attest that it works (though I should admit I was so excited by the “before and after” photos, that I didn’t read the instructions quite thoroughly, and used a lot more ammonia than I needed to. See, this is why I suck at potions on Pottermore…). Some of our grates were nearly black when we moved in; after scrubbing my arm off with Barkeeper’s Friend, I called it quits and kept an uneasy truce. But a few nights with a dishpan of stinky bag on the counter, and you’d swear they were all new, even the worst high-use ones. So pretty and shiny…
Category Uncategorized | Tags: | No Comments
September 18, 2011 by Jennie
After the whole gestational diabetes debacle, I was really looking forward to a big postpartum breakfast of donuts, orange juice, toast, and maybe a small vat of maple syrup to drench the whole lot in for good measure. Well, I didn’t go quite that far — just a glass of juice and some toast with jam — and an hour and a half later I was spiked up past 200, much much worse than any number I’d seen in pregnancy. To say it was a harsh blow would be an understatement.
So I kept on keeping on, logging my cursed food and pricking my damned fingers, but now while caring for a newborn. It was not fun and I was most definitely not looking forward to my two-hour glucose test at six weeks, where it seemed that they would tell me I’d be put on Metformin forever, because apparently what was supposed to have been a temporary condition might really have been developing all along. But, quite surprisingly, I chugged that 75 grams of nasty and came out pretty well on the other end. Not great — certainly borderline — but not diabetic. What I’m considering pre-diabetic. I was advised to reach and maintain an ideal weight, and remain cautious with my diet. Both of which I’ve taken mostly to heart and continue to do. I also send drops of dried blood to a lab every quarter, where they measure my A1C; so far the results have been acceptable. I’m currently about ten pounds to an ideal BMI.
This is what I’ve found my best working diet should look like, more or less, to achieve both goals:
As you can see, it has very little to do with the currently recommended food pyramid. Or plate. Or whatever subsidized grain-heavy gimmick is now in common use. But it works, when I can stick to it. This summer I strayed, and gained four pounds. Of course vampirically hiding inside from the sun had a bit to do with that too.
Statistically, my risk of developing Type II diabetes within ten years increased 50% above that of the general population with my GD diagnosis. But, statistically, subsequently changing my habits and reaching an ideal weight will drastically reduce that risk. I’m not a gambler, and it helps to remember the odds while I’m daily battling a very deeply-ingrained lifelong adoration of baked goods.
Category Life | Tags: | No Comments
September 16, 2011 by Jennie
I found this early mid-century kitchen cabinet and hutch for a song on Craigslist last winter:
It makes a home for my favorite vintage glass on top, and a whole host of stuff beneath. Mostly cookbooks, but also sundry hoardings (portraits I need to send out, mending that should be finished, dead craft projects…) that I’ve squirrelled away in there to get it off the countertops before Other People enter the house.
It was filthy, and the finish has been neglected and is sad. I plan on painting it someday, someday when the house is toddler-free. My favorite pieces are turquoise and red, so I’m thinking maybe white, with robin’s egg hutch interior and accents. Apartment beige never grows more endearing, so at least a little color would be nice.
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September 15, 2011 by Jennie
I fell in love with the octopus locket the moment I saw it, and tried to build a rusty/ ocean-y color scheme around it.
I may have to restring it, though. It’s all very heavy and the pre-prepped tiger tail wire’s magnetic clasp, which I chose because I knew screwing around with clasp findings would keep me from making anything at the moment, is sadly not as robust as I’d first thought.
Category Made | Tags: | No Comments
September 14, 2011 by Jennie
Have you seen the new vintage Fisher-Price Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments? Oh my goodness, I love them, and hope they offer new ones next year (castle, please, if someone at Hallmark happens to be listening).
The boys got me the Play Family House for my birthday:
Of course it opens, and you can see decals of the wee rooms inside. I didn’t realize the doorbell rings until now, when I looked at the site, so of course I had to go and try it out.
My sister had the Music Box Teaching Clock:
The hands move and music plays, just like the real thing. I’ve seen recent reproductions of the actual toy; I might have to get one. For O, and not nostalgia. Of course.
Category Stuff | Tags: | 2 Comments
September 13, 2011 by Jennie
If you join the Cost Plus World Market Explorer Rewards program, they’ll email you a $10 gift coupon on your birthday. I’m pretty sure I know how I’ll be spending mine this year…
Category Stuff | Tags: | No Comments
September 12, 2011 by Jennie
What is? Well, to summarize:
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