Dutch Treat

I'm looking for decals for my mom's old play cupboard that she is refinishing for Nora. It had some very cute old decals on it of little Dutch boys and girls that she remembers her mom and sister carefully applying. In my search for some vintage decals, I'm finding a few that might fit the bill and I thought I might share a few just in case anyone else gets into a vintage mode (btw, I'm finding all sorts of other cute decals as well - pin up girls, dogs, nursery rhymes, retro appliances, etc.)

Note to Fred: I am aware that this doesn't represent actual Dutch children; you probably will be more interested in the decals below:

These dancing girls solve a small mystery that has been puzzling me when I am out at estate sales. I'll often see these risque glasses with dancing girls, pin up girls, and sometimes brides (?) in the basements of older homes. These glasses have the girls clothed on outside of the glass but as you drink down your beverage it reveals a nudie pic of the girl inside the glass. I now know that these were created with these fabulous two-sided decals that were apparently quite popular in the 40's and 50's. Which sort of begs the question of who actually bought these decals and "made" these glasses. I always assumed that the man of the house was responsible for purchasing the glasses, but now I guess these manly guys were also buying the decals and burnishing them onto the glasses as well. I guess we've all got our craft projects.

Nora Directs

Contagious

Well, Tree and Todd, this is really all your fault! You got me doing this and now Carol has the bug! Check out her Dreamday Cafe - some of you may remember her old radio show of the same name. I am loving her photos and its nice to see where she is now, since I haven't visited her since she and Fred moved. And then Fred, not to be outdone by Carol's fabulous photos and commentary, has started his own as well. I now know all about his guitars and I imagine I will be learning more about the various bands he plays with too. It seems that Fred has beat me to the punch, by having Jason guest on his blog - you all will enjoy his commentary on what songs Jason thinks Fred should be writing and playing. Welcome to the blogosphere you guys and thanks for sharing and keeping us up to date with your lives!

Weekend Projects

This weekend, I thought I'd try to stockpile some more food for Nora, since that veggie soup from a couple of weeks ago is dwindling in the freezer. She's really loves the brown rice and split pea baby food, so I thought I'd try to make a homemade version that was more toddler like. Plus, it needed to be something that we wanted to eat too. So, I came up with curried split peas, brown rice and carrots. I knew it was a hit when I tried to eat a small bowl to check it out and Nora ended up eating the whole thing. I got to freeze most of it and Jason polished off the rest.

My other project this weekend was retrofitting some of Nora's bibs. Lately, she's been ripping off all the Velcro closure bibs from around her neck, making mealtime more messy than necessary. I've noticed that she can't do this with the snap closure ones, so I thought I'd try to replace the Velcro with snaps on her plastic bibs. Plus, the Velcro is really obnoxious in the washer machine - everything gets snagged on the stuff and all the Velcro items get strung together into a giant Velcro bib snake.

I'll try to post a picture of the finished project later, but this required two sets of scissors, some snaps, a rubber mallet, and time where Nora was contained. I ended up doing it at the kitchen island while Jason fed Nora. This gave them both a front seat view when I ended up pounding my finger. I recovered and modified three bibs before we needed to head out the door to my Aunt and Uncle's. Mom is road testing them today, and hopefully they are winners.

15 Months

Here's a picture of Nora and I, taken this week. I'm always after Tree to post pictures of herself on Pepe, and she occasionally puts one up there, so I guess turn about is fair play, and I should post a picture of me. Nora was 15 months old yesterday, but I had a dentist appointment so I didn't get around to posting. So here's a photo to give you an idea of what a 15 month old looks like. To give you an idea about what she can do, the exersaucer behind me is now solely a barricade. Without it against the door, she will promptly open it up and go into the two most forbidden, and therefore most exciting, rooms in our house -the kitchen and the bathroom. Where it is so much fun to drop things into the toilet, eat Karl's food, and close her fingers in the kitchen drawers.

However, we're finding that barricades only work for so long, and if she stays on this side of the door, she can do this:

New Bu Two

Today, Tree has gone in for her scheduled c-section and probably by now there is a sweet, new, baby boy in Canada. While we don't have confirmation or a name yet, I just wanted to say a Happy Birthday and Welcome to the new addition to the family of Tree, PD and Ellie Juice. We look forward to meeting you and hearing of your exploits on Pepe Uriburu.

Congratulations Tree, PD & Ellie!

A whole year, you say?

This appeared in my inbox from my old college. They had finally gotten rid of the Native American imagery for the mascot in 2001 (a good 10 years after protests from our tenure) and have not gotten around to creating a new mascot for Hendrix's brave warriors until now. And this is what the came up with.


Since I am ever the optimist, I see a benefit in encouraging kilt wearing in men. However, Jason had another point - the H and X on the cheeks is just a little too close to spelling "Hicks" for an Arkansas school to countenance.

Children's Music That Doesn't Make You Want To Jab Pointy Things In Your Ears

I bought this album for Nora for Easter. But of course when it arrived in the box yesterday, I couldn't resist opening it up and giving it a listen. It had come recommended from some other moms on Glitter, although I hadn't actually heard it yet. When I saw the label indicating that it was part of the Smithsonian's Folkways Project, I knew I had made a good purchase, but I didn't expect to fall in love with it so immediately. Elizabeth Mitchell's voice is beautiful. I'm sure all of you will hear it when you visit us, but if you want some samples, check them out on her website. Now that I know she does The Ladybug Picnic, I think it will be a very short time indeed before I order You Are My Sunshine and all of her other albums.

Tweet, Tweet, Birdy

Lately, I've become a little obsessed with Echino fabrics. This now rivals my love for Amy Butler fabrics. Both inspire and frustrate the latent crafter in me. I need to make more time for craft projects and then edit out some of my other belongings to make room for these potential crafts. In the meantime, I'll just dream about what I'll make with this fabulous fabric that I've bought and is just sitting idle.

What to Feed the Baby?

This weekend I'm back to cooking things for Nora and I realized that we haven't tried the obvious calcium laden choice for milk adverse toddlers - tofu! She's been drinking soy milk for several months, but somehow I never got around to giving her tofu, although it's something Jason and I eat a lot of, although usually in restaurants, since I don't always feel like cooking with it. First I gave her some straight, right out of the package and she ate it, but it looked a little unappetizing. So I cubed some up and sauteed it in some olive oil, cumin, and chili powder with shredded cabbage for Nora and she gobbled it up!

I decided to freeze it and later I moved on to smoothies - soymilk, frozen banana, frozen tofu, and frozen berries. It tasted yummy to me too!

Off We Go!

Proto-Toddle-Bot

She's standing now (well she has been for awhile) but I really love this photo of her taken this past weekend. I think any day now she'll take off and walk on her own.

Warning for Textbooks

Here's the latest accessory from Adbusters for your economics textbook. As they say on style network - Love it! You can download your own stickers at the site for your own commando campaign at the university bookstore or econ department.

Rocket Girl

Here's our rocket girl blasting off into space. Featuring a wonderful soundtrack by Jason, an unfortunate view of my pajama pants, and a special appearance by our girl's best friend forever, Karl.

March Already?

Somehow I've managed not to make an entry for two weeks now. In my defense, I was sick with the flu for much of last week and then Jason's parents came for the weekend, but now it's mid March and I really need to get back to it! I'm working on trying to figure out how to upload a video here, but so far I'm not having much luck.