its a mad mission

We’ve just come back from a wonderfully long vacation, which I will be posting pics from, but I’ll start with this brief sampling. Part of our time was a staycation, during which we mapped out several thrift shops in the area to hit one afternoon. I love Brooklyn, but it turns out its thrift shops are nothing to brag on. Disappointment was to be found at every smelly, dirty, dank corner.

So when we drove by a little (I mean little!) thrift store in Taunton, MA on the way out to the cape, Bill suggested we go in. And got a happy wife as a result. The prices were ridiculously low, and I found these steals. The vintage tablecloth and six napkins, with complimentary moth ball smell: $1.25. The sweet apple green bowl to inspire me to eat the fruit inside: $1.50. All sorts of other odds and unneeded ends were found as well, but these are my favorites. Anthropologie, eat your heart out.

This is a great post on why to purchase things made by other humans, not robots (or mass manufacturers). Sure, it’s unavoidable at times (like I need to buys some new board shorts today for our camping/river rafting trip next week and neither I nor anyone on Etsy are making those). But this list sure does inspire me to “think handmade” for other things. Enjoy!

I just picked up a batch of wood blocks from cousin Jenn, and got to mount a bunch of my new felts this morning. Very stoked about this good-looking bunch. Something for baby showers, wedding showers, and you in here…

Blog readers get free shipping. Just mention the blog in your note to seller, and don’t pay through paypal until I contact you.

In the past, I’ve talked about my obsession with names, and found that a number of you could relate (Melissa and I even discovered we had both named cars “The Silver Bullet”). So now, dear readers, it’s time to see how many of you are likeminded on another topic: list-making.

You know who you are.

Every Sunday night (or Monday morning) I list out everything to do for the week. I have a day planner (sorry, this is where I go waaayyy lo-tech—yes, I know about the iphone, and no, I don’t want one). One week takes up two pages, and on each day I list out any regular engagements, stuff that I remember needs to be done that day, etc. As I go through the week, it sits 6 inches from my left hand while I’m at my desk, or on the counter that functions as our apartment’s hub. Anything that comes up, whether it’s going out or purposefully spending a night at home, it goes in there. It’s my brain dump. For someone who naturally obsesses just a tad too much about life, this helps me not obsess. Once it’s written down my mind can let go of it.

I come by this habit honestly, though. I distinctly remember my dad sitting down on Sunday nights, Dayrunner in hand, writing out his list for the week. Our family also had a dry-erase board over our dining room table for the purpose of lists (and homeschooling). It was always full on Saturday work-around-the-house days (Jason and I had honey-do lists long before either of us ever got married).

But the best part of this whole list-making lifestyle: CROSSING SOMETHING OFF.

The back half of my planner is not a nice chronicle of my year. Rather, it’s a series of blots, hashes and scratches that firmly state “This is done.” It’s horribly ugly but horribly satisfying. My planner provides daily moments of glee whenever a task is obscured by a big fat pen mark.

And I will admit that I’m a bit of a crossing-it-off cheater. If something doesn’t get done in a day, I don’t leave it. I cross it off and move it to the next day–it’s a joint moment of happiness (yay, crossed it off!) and depression (tomorrow’s list just got longer).

So there you have it, a glimpse into my list-making soul. Anyone else have lists of lists? Please share…

Oh, and p.s.: Bill caught the vision and recently bought a dayplanner. Now I can cross THAT off my list.

Bill calls this new, limited edition work, “Smoking candle in the midnight breeze.” He’s considering opening an etsy shop.

…and soon to be on Etsy for public consumption.

It’s official: I’ll be teaching here next month. 

I’ve got to say, this felt I finished last night is one of my new favorites.

…with five new bundles of joy. There’s more to come, but I wanted to get things moving. First 3 sales get free shipping, b/c I don’t know how much shipping actually costs. It’s a great way to find out.

www.junebugfelts.etsy.com