Less is More, It Just Is.

Tonight A and I are going out for the night, just the two of us, our last date night alone before the zaniness of family travel and other celebratory activities hit us full in the chest. I'm not sure if that's what's doing it or if is intention to focus on what matters in the middle of this holiday season, or even just new thinking about the coming excitement of New Year's Resolutions and the clean slate that is a crispy new January.

Suddenly I'm thinking about all the new toys and sweets and "stuff" we'll be bringing home for our little ones and I'm feeling the unstoppable urge to purge. Time to go wildly through our goods and take boat loads of things to Goodwill! Time to create empty, clean spaces! Time to set things in order in our house so that we return from Michigan to a calming space instead of insanity!

I am remembering that the things children like best are the simple ones....the ones that don't cost much or anything at all. Cookie cutters, shiny pebbles, string, the wrapping paper...you know. Am off to sort the playroom, to vacuum all the corners and to take bags of stuff, stuff, stuff to the trunk of our van for a thrift shop drop-off.

Less is more. It just is.

Sharing The Good

Today, a little post to send you all word about a few of my recent favorites. I do like to share good news...and who knows, maybe one of these things can help you out.

Hair forks: I'm not sure how many people I have in my audience with long hair for whom this accessory/tool is a great big win, but it's sure worth putting the word out. I like to buy my forks on Etsy.com, right from the artisans who make them. My favorite one that I have at the moment is that pale, bird's eye maple, double forked model up there. I like hair forks because its takes just one little thing to put my hair up for the day which means its simple and quick and I'm not dropping pins all over everywhere. I also like the look of the smooth wood and love the feel in my hands.

L-Lyseine: This one is for all those of you out there who suffer from canker sores. Just for the record, canker sores are different from cold sores, have nothing to do with herpes and are usually hereditary. (I got mine from my Papa's gene pool.) The brilliant thing is, you can take this amino acid as simple supplement and be done with them forever. Ru just got his second one ever and I put him on the regime straight away. (Note: I am not a doctor, just a mommy with an opinion.) L-Lyseine taken when you have a canker sore shortens the duration of the injury and lessens the pain and when taken preventatively will  relieve you of the problem for good. (Credit to A's cousin for tipping me off to this brilliant solution to mouth pain!) You can get it in pretty much any grocery store's vitamin section.

Crumb sweeper: I use tablecloths on our table every day. The stickum that a meal leaves behind is just too overwhelming for three times daily scrubbing and soaking and I am lazy. So, I opt for a quick, wisk-it-off-the-table-when-it-gets-messy approach. This handy little tool helps me keep the crumb count reasonably presentable between meals and whizzing it along the table is a lot faster than the scrub, scrub, scrub that washing the table down entails. And although honestly this neon green model that I bought is uglier than sin, I have to say that I still love the idea and hey...it lives in a drawer in the kitchen. How pretty does it have to be?

Mary Jane's Farm Magazine: This is my new favorite magazine. I love it. Country life, green living, diy womanly vim, outdoor relishing, simplicity striving, beautifully romantic, homespun, very few advertisements fun. Credit to my sister Foxy here. She called me immediately when she discovered it newsstand and by the time we were off the phone I had subscribed online and I've never looked back. Every issue is a saver. You can subscribe here!

Garlic Peelers: I promise, I'm not a huge fan of single-use kitchen goods...BUT. This one is worth it. You know how much a pain it is to peel garlic for a recipe? Even with that handy, squish each clove with the side of your chef knife move (then you get garlic juice all over your hands and you smell like garlic bread for days). I got so put off by the whole thing that I started buying that pre-minced stuff in a jar in the produce section. I still use that fabulous stuff for when I'm in a real hurry but, the pain of peeling cloves for fresh garlic zip is gone now, thanks to this brilliant invention. I have no idea how in the world it works but its genius and it works every single time. So simple. Check it out.

Chocolove Raspberries in Dark Chocolate: This is my new favorite chocolate. Its dark chocolate which I like to eat more of partly just because I like but also because the sugar count is lower and the antioxidant count is higher. But, this one...mmm....there are all these little bullets of dried raspberry through the whole bar which means you get a round of zingy little fruit bit with each bite to balance the candy. I am on Weight Watchers at the moment, shedding the baby pounds and keeping myself in portion control training and their system made me realize one other thing that's great about the bar. Its a chocolate bar that has fiber content! How great is that? Its not often that you can get delicious candy that ups your fiber intake for the day. And then there's the fact that each bar comes with a love poem in the wrapper....*grin*....lovely things go hand in hand. I buy these bars at Whole Foods.


That's it folks.....a few of my recent finds. Got anything you love at the moment that is too to keep to yourself? I'd love to know about it!

In Case of Fire

Just in case there was a fire....its good to keep these sorts of practical lists on hand, so that I could quickly dash to the computer, comb through old blog posts and tick off the "necessities" as the smoke curled around my toes. Perhaps humming a little Baloo as I went:?

Here's what matters in my house:

59 Things To Keep…..

1. Of course the dear people I live with.  A and the boys would be the first thing I’d ever choose
2. My tattered Spanish/English dictionary I won in a writing contest.
3. The boys baby books
4. My wooden cheesebox full of sentimental goods
5. My ancient cassette tape of Kirby Snively music
6. The photograph of me as a bride hanging on our bedroom wall
7. …oh heck, and the one on my dresser of A and I looking happily into each other’s eyes too!
8. My copy of Joy of Cooking (wedding gift from Mama)
9. The heirloom gold ring that was willed to me at my birth by a great uncle
10. The soft blue t-shirt I’ve had since I was seven
11. My Gourmet cookbook , a gift from my mother-in-law. (Thanks Mum!)
12. My guitar…and Reuben’s too
13. My Spanish/English Bible
14. My antique Alcott collection
15. The earrings I wore in my wedding
16. The Christmas ornament Papa made for me one year. A clear circle with a my parents log house scrimshawed into it
17. The broken, heart-shaped gold locket with red flowers etched into it that my parents gave me when I turned 13 that I will still find a way to get repaired someday!
18. My sketchbooks, paintings, paints and brushes
19. My sewing box
20. My Eureka handvac
21. An orchid or two
22. My wall paint color palette book
23. The tattered rose quilt I made with my grandma on her ancient sewing machine
24. My box of seeds
25. My copy of Mrs. Appleyard’s Year
26. Some washable markers (The two year old would be infinitely happier)
27. The “Garden Bed” perfume A bought me at a little shop in Brooklyn
28. A tube of mascara
29. My bottle of Trader Joe’s Tahitian vanilla extract
30. The digital camera
31. The cedar lined chest Papa made me as a wedding gift.
32. My little wooden rolling pin
33. The bird’s nest attached to a small branch that I’ve toted along through three or four houses now
34. My demitasse spoons (So useful! You have no idea!)
35. My journals
36. The mini teapot my sister bought me when I got married
37. The photos and videos of my children’s births
38. The glass edged dessert plate with strawberries that my grandma gave me when I married
39. My crystal cake pedestal
40.  The ribbon bound bundle of letters A wrote me while we were dating
41. The fake bust of a girl I bought in Meijer as a newlywed
42. My little cream pitcher
43. The end table my grandpa made
44. My engagement ring and wedding band…first real diamond I ever owned.
45. The plastic grocery bag of quilt bits in purple and green satin I’ve been s.l.o.w.l.y hand-sewing since high school.
46. My copies of Milne’s collected Winnie-the-Pooh stories and poetry
47. My gold and black "Cleopatra" formal
48. My character shoes
49. The photo I have of my grandparents, from when my grandpa could walk (he was eventually quadriplegic)
50. The tiny, olive colored, cashmere baby booties I knitted for Ru while I was pregnant
51. My violin
52. My giant recipe binder, full of clear pages containing loads and loads of recipe snippets I have collected through the years including: my stand-by bread recipe, my freezer jam recipe and the sacred Armstrong cheesecake instructions.
53. The delicate amethyst earrings and necklace A gave me a couple of years ago for my birthday
54. The pair of old, pale green, glass lanterns that I mean to hang together in our house someday
55. My farmhouse tea kettle
56. My grandpa's paintings (I own two)
57. Plantie....Miq and Penny's glossy leaved coffee tree I'm babysitting
58. A few prisms from the chandelier over our dining room table
59. The little marble bust of Abraham Lincoln that I found in a thrift store