Brendan pointed out that what I wrote yesterday about the resources page may have come off sounding a little snotty, which was SO not my intention! Truthfully, I felt a little stupid for not having checked it all out before I posted the site. I was saying a little "duh" to myself because not only did I not check out the stats, but when I went back to look for it it practically jumped off the screen and bit me, but I completely missed on my first, second, and third visits to the site.
So, for the record, Robyn is lovely and I was not meaning to be snide. Sometimes I hate that it is so difficult to convey tone on the internet. I will be more careful to direct my "duh"s only at myself next time. Sorry, Robyn!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Where Got Their Numbers And Statistics
Robyn asked a good question about The Story of Stuff: Where did they get their data?
To be honest, I had not checked their site for specific resources of data because I had heard many of those same statistics on the news, in the newspaper, on NPR, etc., but they never had the impact on my way of thinking until I saw them all put together in such a coherent way. In order to answer her question I just headed back to The Story of Stuff site and found, on page one, a big link to their Resources page, where you can look up each and every bit of data they put in their twenty minute film, including an annotated script that cites each and every reference. So now we know.
By the way, the annotated script is easy to read if you don't have time to sit and watch the movie.
To be honest, I had not checked their site for specific resources of data because I had heard many of those same statistics on the news, in the newspaper, on NPR, etc., but they never had the impact on my way of thinking until I saw them all put together in such a coherent way. In order to answer her question I just headed back to The Story of Stuff site and found, on page one, a big link to their Resources page, where you can look up each and every bit of data they put in their twenty minute film, including an annotated script that cites each and every reference. So now we know.
By the way, the annotated script is easy to read if you don't have time to sit and watch the movie.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Say hay boke-mahn he pah du say oh
Happy Lunar New Year!
February 7, 2008 on the solar calendar (the one we westerners use) marks the first day of the Lunar New Year, called Sol-Nal in Korea, and specifically, the Year Of The Rat. Sol- Nal traditions in Korea are focused around paying respects to the elders and ancestors of the family. I have read that Seoul becomes a ghost town during the festivities, as thousands of people pour out of it and other large cities in order to make the journey to their family's roots in the countryside.
The biggest holiday in Korea, the Lunar New Year is rung in with large family gatherings (married couples travel to the home of the husband's family), a thorough cleaning of one's home in order to rid it of any evil that lingers from the previous year, huge feast-like meals featuring dduk-gook (a soup made with oval rice cakes), and several traditional games. Kite flying is also traditional on the Lunar New Year, with older family members tying blades to the kite in order to attempt to cut the kite strings of their opponents.
As part of the celebration, families dress in their formal wear, known as hankbok. I dressed the kids in their hanbok yesterday for pictures so I could post them tonight, on New Year's Eve.
Harry attempts to tie his pouch around his head, while Emma practices her "so big" arm movements.
Their hanbok were gifts from each of their foster mothers in Korea. Harry's is getting to be too small, and we'll probably have to order him a new one before next year.
A real smile, instead of the usual pirate variety.
Wearing her more modern headpiece.
Harry is really interested in learning about Korea these days, and it has been fun to look things up for him to answer his questions, which are surprisingly astute for one so young. We're incorporating some of the Korean traditions for the Lunar New Year into our week, and I started with a thorough house cleaning. It seemed like a good idea, since it hadn't been done in, well, I don't want to admit that to you. If the weather stops being so crummy tomorrow we will venture out with our kite and test the winds, and tomorrow's dinner will involve bulgogi and kimchi if I can get it. We already had our dduk-gook, or at least a version of it I found in a cook book. It was tasty and both kids gobbled it up. I can't wait to do more cooking tomorrow!
Many blessings to your family in the new year!
February 7, 2008 on the solar calendar (the one we westerners use) marks the first day of the Lunar New Year, called Sol-Nal in Korea, and specifically, the Year Of The Rat. Sol- Nal traditions in Korea are focused around paying respects to the elders and ancestors of the family. I have read that Seoul becomes a ghost town during the festivities, as thousands of people pour out of it and other large cities in order to make the journey to their family's roots in the countryside.
The biggest holiday in Korea, the Lunar New Year is rung in with large family gatherings (married couples travel to the home of the husband's family), a thorough cleaning of one's home in order to rid it of any evil that lingers from the previous year, huge feast-like meals featuring dduk-gook (a soup made with oval rice cakes), and several traditional games. Kite flying is also traditional on the Lunar New Year, with older family members tying blades to the kite in order to attempt to cut the kite strings of their opponents.
As part of the celebration, families dress in their formal wear, known as hankbok. I dressed the kids in their hanbok yesterday for pictures so I could post them tonight, on New Year's Eve.
Harry attempts to tie his pouch around his head, while Emma practices her "so big" arm movements.
Their hanbok were gifts from each of their foster mothers in Korea. Harry's is getting to be too small, and we'll probably have to order him a new one before next year.
A real smile, instead of the usual pirate variety.
Wearing her more modern headpiece.
Harry is really interested in learning about Korea these days, and it has been fun to look things up for him to answer his questions, which are surprisingly astute for one so young. We're incorporating some of the Korean traditions for the Lunar New Year into our week, and I started with a thorough house cleaning. It seemed like a good idea, since it hadn't been done in, well, I don't want to admit that to you. If the weather stops being so crummy tomorrow we will venture out with our kite and test the winds, and tomorrow's dinner will involve bulgogi and kimchi if I can get it. We already had our dduk-gook, or at least a version of it I found in a cook book. It was tasty and both kids gobbled it up. I can't wait to do more cooking tomorrow!
Many blessings to your family in the new year!
Another Way: The Story of Stuff
I've been reading a new blog lately, one that my mom sent me the link to that is hosted by the local newspaper here. The blog is called Getting Greener (you can click on that title to visit the blog) and the author, Wendy Baird, talks about her family's efforts to make their lives a little more earth friendly.
Wendy's blog pointed me in the direction of The Story of Stuff (you can click on that one, too). I try not to ask much of the people I know, but today I am pulling a favor. Please go and watch the video. It is twenty minutes long, which sounds like an eternity in this world of fast paced clicking, but those twenty minutes will transform the way you think about our habits, our consumption, and our world. When you're done let me know what you thought by leaving a comment.
Wendy's blog pointed me in the direction of The Story of Stuff (you can click on that one, too). I try not to ask much of the people I know, but today I am pulling a favor. Please go and watch the video. It is twenty minutes long, which sounds like an eternity in this world of fast paced clicking, but those twenty minutes will transform the way you think about our habits, our consumption, and our world. When you're done let me know what you thought by leaving a comment.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
More Sewing
Another smock:
The recycled dress, from H&M sweatpants:
Front Back
With strings tied at bottom to create shirring.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Library, And The Smock
We're a month into it and I am tired of winter already. We've been sick, all four of us, with a cold that leaves us coughing and hacking and lying awake at night to make sure the kids are still breathing. And fevers, too. What fun! We're going on two weeks of illness here, and we've had to cancel all kinds of play dates, trips to museums, and other fun plans. I have spring fever in a big way, and I find myself setting the kettle on to boil before my current cup of tea has even begun to chill, and moving my preferred seat in the house to whichever spot happens to have a touch of sun. I am seriously considering the purchase of a light box, or a condo in Florida. Probably the light box is a better idea.
I've been taking Harry and Emma to the library about once per week, trying very hard to break up the monotony of winter. They like the variety of toys, seeing friends, and meeting new kids. I like the selection of different children's books and the chance to speak with other adults. Our local library, Crandall, has been undergoing a renovation but for the interim they have relocated to an adjacent building. We love the new location almost as much as we loved the old one, especially the big windows that allow sunlight to spill across the children's play area. There I go with the sun worship again. This cabin fever is all encompassing.
The smock Emma is wearing in the pictures is one that I made from a new book, Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing (click for link). I love this book! It is inspiring with quick projects to jump start your enthusiasm, and tougher patterns to take on once you get into your groove. I ordered three sewing books a few weeks ago and much of my spare time has been spent in another sun-splashed locale, my newly created sewing room. I have more projects to share, including a dress I made for Emma from a pair of old H&M sweatpants. Now that's taking recycling to a whole new and interesting level. I am hoping to cut out more smocks this afternoon from $1.00/yard calico cotton that I happened upon in my travels. I love the way the smocks take jeans and a onesie from boring to cute, and Emma is enthralled with the pocket. I also have fabric to make napkins for our dinner table and also some new hand towels for the kitchen. We're trying to lessen our use of paper towels and paper napkins, and I am hoping that sewing my own will make me more likely to use them.
Maybe I just need a whole post about my sewing room/projects. I'll work on that this afternoon.
I've been taking Harry and Emma to the library about once per week, trying very hard to break up the monotony of winter. They like the variety of toys, seeing friends, and meeting new kids. I like the selection of different children's books and the chance to speak with other adults. Our local library, Crandall, has been undergoing a renovation but for the interim they have relocated to an adjacent building. We love the new location almost as much as we loved the old one, especially the big windows that allow sunlight to spill across the children's play area. There I go with the sun worship again. This cabin fever is all encompassing.
The smock Emma is wearing in the pictures is one that I made from a new book, Amy Karol's Bend The Rules Sewing (click for link). I love this book! It is inspiring with quick projects to jump start your enthusiasm, and tougher patterns to take on once you get into your groove. I ordered three sewing books a few weeks ago and much of my spare time has been spent in another sun-splashed locale, my newly created sewing room. I have more projects to share, including a dress I made for Emma from a pair of old H&M sweatpants. Now that's taking recycling to a whole new and interesting level. I am hoping to cut out more smocks this afternoon from $1.00/yard calico cotton that I happened upon in my travels. I love the way the smocks take jeans and a onesie from boring to cute, and Emma is enthralled with the pocket. I also have fabric to make napkins for our dinner table and also some new hand towels for the kitchen. We're trying to lessen our use of paper towels and paper napkins, and I am hoping that sewing my own will make me more likely to use them.
Maybe I just need a whole post about my sewing room/projects. I'll work on that this afternoon.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Hello, 2008!
We have just come off eleven vacation days worth of tea drinking, holiday celebrating, lounging, movie watching, and merry visiting with friends and family. While it was an enjoyable and much needed respite from work and a regular schedule, there is something so very comforting about returning to that schedule when the holidays are over. Combined with a new year, that feeling morphs into motivation for me.
I am not prone to new year's resolutions, but we do have a lot of plans for the year ahead. 2008 will bring the finalization of Emma's adoption, a significant purge of our worldly belongings, a family vacation that may require boarding an airplane with two kids (I am sweating already), a new financial plan for our household, the beginning of preschool for Harry, and the exploration of the possibility of returning to work for me. In between those larger elements there are a million smaller projects to tackle, ideas to work on, books to read, yarn to knit and crochet, and I am planning to put many, many miles on my sewing machine. And yet again, we will try to grow a lawn in the backyard. Ahem. I think that one is three years in the running for yearly plans, but maybe the third time really is the charm?
Today I am off to the IRS in an attempt to get an ATIN number for Emma so we can file our taxes this year. We were turned down at the social security office, even though we showed them every required document and even printed up the directions from their very own website which explained how and why to get a SSN for a non-finalized, non-citizen child who is in your custody for the purpose of adoption. If the IRS turns me down, which they may very well do because the ATIN number is only for children who do not qualify for the SSN and Emma does qualify, I have to go back to the social security office and have someone else review our file. The lady we dealt with was rude from the moment we approached the window and as the meeting progressed she yelled at us, told us she couldn't send a SS card to our daughter's birth parents in China, refused to even look at, no less actually read the documents of proof that we placed in her hands, and snarked with a co-worker over a Korean document, commenting that it could be a fake because it didn't look "foreign enough" and contained the English language. Your tax dollars at work, my friends. So you can see why I am going to try the IRS before placing myself in the midst of that particular brand of hell again, can't you? Funny how the IRS suddenly seems like a beacon of hope in my life.
Coming up soon I have updates about both Harry and Emma (who are growing up so fast it makes my head spin some days), pictures of the living room arrangement I did not come up with but I love, and a few changes around my page, which I can hopefully figure out without Mr. WTD's help. It's a brave new year.
Cheers to you and yours!
I am not prone to new year's resolutions, but we do have a lot of plans for the year ahead. 2008 will bring the finalization of Emma's adoption, a significant purge of our worldly belongings, a family vacation that may require boarding an airplane with two kids (I am sweating already), a new financial plan for our household, the beginning of preschool for Harry, and the exploration of the possibility of returning to work for me. In between those larger elements there are a million smaller projects to tackle, ideas to work on, books to read, yarn to knit and crochet, and I am planning to put many, many miles on my sewing machine. And yet again, we will try to grow a lawn in the backyard. Ahem. I think that one is three years in the running for yearly plans, but maybe the third time really is the charm?
Today I am off to the IRS in an attempt to get an ATIN number for Emma so we can file our taxes this year. We were turned down at the social security office, even though we showed them every required document and even printed up the directions from their very own website which explained how and why to get a SSN for a non-finalized, non-citizen child who is in your custody for the purpose of adoption. If the IRS turns me down, which they may very well do because the ATIN number is only for children who do not qualify for the SSN and Emma does qualify, I have to go back to the social security office and have someone else review our file. The lady we dealt with was rude from the moment we approached the window and as the meeting progressed she yelled at us, told us she couldn't send a SS card to our daughter's birth parents in China, refused to even look at, no less actually read the documents of proof that we placed in her hands, and snarked with a co-worker over a Korean document, commenting that it could be a fake because it didn't look "foreign enough" and contained the English language. Your tax dollars at work, my friends. So you can see why I am going to try the IRS before placing myself in the midst of that particular brand of hell again, can't you? Funny how the IRS suddenly seems like a beacon of hope in my life.
Coming up soon I have updates about both Harry and Emma (who are growing up so fast it makes my head spin some days), pictures of the living room arrangement I did not come up with but I love, and a few changes around my page, which I can hopefully figure out without Mr. WTD's help. It's a brave new year.
Cheers to you and yours!
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