Victory!

Apologies for the lengthy hiatus, but the movers finally arrived and I have not had much free time ever since.

Of course the move in did not occur without major drama. The truckers finally phoned us to say that they were in Houston and would arrive the following morning. The next day (while Joe was at work, even though we had planned to move in to occur when he still had three weeks left of vacation) The driver called me to say he was downstairs and that his 18-wheeler would not be able to get into the apartment complex. He asked me to come downstairs.

I strapped Harlan onto my hip because otherwise he runs in the opposite direction of wherever we are going. We descended into the heat and humidity and walked all over the parking area while the driver pointed out problems with bringing his truck in. Either he would not be able to turn the truck around to go back out the entrance, or else the truck would hit electrical wires that covered the exit. Keep in mind that the driver had me walking all over the property to show me these pitfalls while Harlan and all 4500 pounds of him squirmed and squealed on my hip because he wanted to get down and run. OK, I said. No 18 wheeler. What next?

The driver told me he would have to go rent a U-haul and "find some guys" to help him move everything from the 18 wheeler on to the U-haul, and then up the steps into my apartment. I quickly called a friend of mine to find out where the local day laborers hang out. I told the driver and he thanked me because You can get those guys without paying them much.

I got in my car with Harlan and drove to the ATM to get money and then to the supermarket to get sandwiches, fruit salad, cokes and waters to give to the guys. There was no way I was going to contribute to exploiting some poor immigrants who were about to move all my crap twice in the heat.

Never mind that Moishe's guaranteed that our stuff would be delivered a month before it actually arrived and still expected me to pay for it. They had also promised me that their long distance truckers were theirs (they were not. They were contractors, which explains why their truck was not replaced when it broke down) and that the movers on the other end were also theirs (they were not. They were day laborers that I had to find for the truckers and had to pay so that they were not exploited by the truckers). Keep in mind that Moishe's is supposedly the moving company with the best reputation nationwide. Moishes's moving company. I threw that sentence in for google searchers to find this story. Long distance movers. There's another one for googlers.

So, the stuff is here, some is broken but most is not. Our queen sized mattress for some reason looks like a giant ass sat on it. We can not figure out what happened, but each side of the mattress is majorly indented and there is a thick, high, mound running vertically down the center of the thing. It's a bit unsettling.

Now for the fun part- unpacking all the goodies and decorating a whole new place. Little did I realize how much I disliked so many aspects of my last place. I must admit it's good to be home.

P.S. These photos are all of Harlan at his favorite new place on earth- the new Town Lake Park which has a giant area with a spiral in the center that shoots water and cool steam at various heights and intervals, and is surrounded by tiny pools for the toddlers to get down and splash around in. It's my new Ft. Greene Park. We go every afternoon after Harlan's nap and meet up with all the other neighborhood moms and their toddlers. I must admit, we ended up in a pretty awesome spot.

Tune in next time to hear about the $175 speeding ticket I got for going 29 in a school zone and to see the latest crafty decorating as well as my new Decole goodies and great places to get some of your own.

Crafts and a giant sofa are in the hizzy

Guess what my friend Kim S. made for Harlan before he moves south?


I love it so much, and the herringbone tweed is made from her father's old sport coat (which Joe says he wishes he could have). Kim was also sweet enough to save me a giant hunk of the Valrhona chocolate bread pudding she had just made. Did I mention Kim writes for Chocolatier magazine? I bet that job beats tempting as a receptionist (not that those are the only two options in the world for careers, but sometimes it kind of feels like it is to me). She also gave me a big pile of cardboard boxes that she helped me carry home while pushing Harlan in his stroller. I can't wait to join the car culture quite honestly (I'm getting a bio-diesel VW, don't worry).

If you wonder why I placed such a cute bunny on a pile of taped up boxes it's because every surface in my apartment is covered in boxes. Every surface that is, except for our giant sofa which had to be lifted up the side of the building with rope and pulled in through the window because the clearing at the top of the first flight isn't tall or wide enough for the couch to get around the corner and up the next flight. My cousin Lori used to own a furniture store out on the North Fork of Long Island and gave me the sofa because it had a bit of water damage on the back of it. The men that worked for her who drove the sofa into Brooklyn for me are a couple of real characters. Andy, who is a mildmannered and hulkish schizophrenic who married his Psychiatrist and had two healthy children with her, and Cleo, an extremely generous older Texan African-American who looks about 20 years younger than he is. Cleo is super muscular and short and has a thin moustache. He also enjoys wearing vintage ladies jewelry like enameled floral necklaces (three at a time), along with gold eye-liner and skin tight jeans with red pumps.

As soon as the two of them realized that the sofa would not fit around the corner at the top of the first flight of steps, Cleo insisted that he would go buy a rope and pull it up, because they hadn't driven the damn thing for four hours on the L.I.E. for nothing. Andy kept saying, "No way Cleo. No way" but Cleo was determined. As the two of them hoisted the sofa up the side of the building a small crowd gathered to watch on the sidewalk. Cleo pulled the rope and dripped with sweat while screaming at the onlookers, "Whatchew all lookin' at? This 'aint no damn picture show, keep moving 'fore I charge y'all!"

I placed a photo of the sofa on Freecycle and on Craiglist and received a few e-mails. The first was my favorite as the subject line read, "I wan your sof". Inside, the message just said to call the sender. I know I'm kind of old and not totally down with text messaging codes and what not, but is it really that difficult to type the extra t and a in the subject line? Needless to say I didn't call. None of the other e-mailers worked out (surprise surprise, an ad that says Free Sofa, Bring Rope didn't get great results) and so we have decided to leave the behemoth to my lovely landlord and his five foot nose hairs (have I not mentioned the nasal growth before? It's nightmare worthy so perhaps I have spared you all thus far). The best part is, Landlord will probably drag the sofa out the door and down the first flight of stairs before realizing that it won't fit around the sharp corner of the stairwell on the second floor. He will have to bring it back up and either get a chainsaw to cut it in half, or pay someone to get it out the window for him. I feel tempted to leave a note on the sofa that just says, "This is what you get for being a hostile a-hole to people who live on your property".

Guess what came in the mail to me today just in time?

The busy bees embroidery transfer, courtesy of the famous Floresita. She had an extra copy of the pattern and was generous enough to send it to me along with a very sweet note. I am such a fan of hers. If you don't know who she is, be sure to check out her flickr embroidery group, embroidery group blog, and vintage transfers blog, which has scans of many fantastic transfers for you to see or use. Needless to say, between the Amazing Dad Sport Coat Bunny and the free transfer in the mail, I scored big time.

Here is a gratuitous photo of me and Harlan taken this afternoon. I had to have a recent photo of myself to post an intro on the new meetup group I just joined in Austin. I'm hoping to meet other moms in my new hood to spend time with. I can't even believe how sad I am to leave all my Fort Greene mama pals. They have really been a bunch of lifesavers over the past 20 months, and the best part is, we would have all loved each other even if we didn't have children the same age. I can't imagine that I will be this lucky again.

I've been oot and aboot

What a flaky blogger I have been, although to be fair the past month has been extremely un-computer friendly to me. We spent a week up at lake Muskoka at Joe's family's lake house that has been in the family for generations. While packing for the trip Joe recommended that I bring along some of my craft projects since there was going to be so much time to relax. Being the know-it-all that I can't help but be, I did not pack anything recreational other than a pile of New Yorkers that I have not had the opportunity to read. This was wise. While all of the family members at the house with us lounged on the dock and rode around in sail boats and Kayaks, Joe and I pretty much did what we do on a daily basis; we took care of Harlan. At twenty months the big lug has only been really walking about three months, and all of it has been on solid cement ground. The rocky steep ground on this Canadian island was not familiar turf, and so we spent a lot of time running around the porch and playing with grandpa's plastic clogs. Luckily grandpa was a good sport and enjoyed having a charming toddler take his shoes on and off repeatedly, and occasionally offer them to his cousin if she happened to be passing through. Not a lot of spare time to work on crafting, but it was certainly relaxing and always great to get away from Brooklyn in the summer. And did I even mention that they sell English candy in Canada? Yup. I got to go to the Cadbury outlet store. What could be better than that? The truck stop availability of maple or cinnamon Kit Kats? Perhaps. The abundance at the supermarket of those crazy English potato chip flavors like dill pickle and ketchup? Maybe. But as anyone knows, it's hard to beat the English Cadbury. I went to the outlet store in desperate search of the chocolate spread that Dottie Angel is hoarding over on the west coast. Alas, they did not have any, but I did leave with a shopping bag full of candy. I hope they have a good dentist in Austin.

Right now I am getting in my beach time at my mother's house in Long Island. The apartment is half packed and we move out on the twenty fourth. As you can imagine, not a whole lot of crafting going on these days. P.S. Check out this shot of Harlan in Canada with what we called "boat face" on. He loved riding in the boat, but always got this super serious face while the boat was actually in motion.

Wa Wah Waaaaahhhh*

*As in the sound the trumpet makes when the punchline is corny.

The house inspector's report arrived in my inbox this morning. As Harlan scampered beneath my feet, trying to climb into the revolving office chair, I leaned over him and read the computer screen while my heart stopped. The roof, foundation, plumbing, HVAC, and electric have major problems and all need to be replaced or repaired. Any other problems other than everything major you ask? Why yes! There is mold and moisture damage in the walls. But there is brand new carpet and fresh paint on the all the walls,!

The real estate agent called and let me know that the roof, foundation and electric issues could be fixed before our move-in date of August 1. She offered to research the cost and then approach the seller to make these repairs for us. Sounds good! I hung up the phone and all I could see was moldy walls and leaky AC ducts so I e-mailed her to let her know that it's just way too much for a house that was not priced as a fixer-upper. Now I'm thinking our best bet is to get a rental and pound the pavement for a fifties ranch house that is in working condition. I still want my original kitchen and bath, none of that granite and marble crap.
On a cheerier and craftier note, here are my scores from Renegade last weekend:
Suitcase and pail from Pixigenne!
Cool silkscreened and appliqued T-shirt for Harlan (his handmade wool shorties/ diaper cover also arrived in my mail this week from royalbuns):

And of course a sad rotten banana and a happy good egg from My Paper Crane:

I also got a lovely package in the mail from Veronica of Petunia fame. It included a handmade ribbon brooch that now lives happily on my diaper bag, a quilted card, and some vintage buttons that I put away before photographing them to keep Harlan from eating them:

Look what I got!

Aside from an electric toothbrush embroidery hoop and lens cap I got a house.
Our bid was accepted and I'm already picking out Anthropologie resin cabinet pulls for my new 50's kitchen. Unfortunately this is about all we can afford to do to the house right now. Who cares though? We got a cool house that we can call our own.

Are you wondering about Harlan and the embroidery hoop/electric toothbrush/ lens cap/ Yahoo Serious hair-do photo? All of a sudden he is into everything. It's a constant trail of destruction. His favorite new toys are my large embroidery hoop, which he throws over his neck, and my electric toothbrush. I have to buy him his own (toothbrush, not hoop). I grabbed my camera to take a photo and of course he had to nab the lens cap before running off with all three, only to drop the lens cap and pick up my sandal which he then threw in the toilet. This morning I ran around trying to get everything together to go meet some friends in the playground and I couldn't find Harlan's left sandal anywhere (note to self: buy more than one pair of shoes for Harlan). We put on his too-small sneakers and left. I finally found the missing shoe this evening in my top desk drawer which is usually secured with a safety thingamajiggy. I must have left it unlocked. Apparently Harlan's cohorts are in the same phase. I saw my friend Kara today who is 7 months pregnant, and her son Arthur who is about a week apart from Harlan in age. The rascal had her chasing him all over the street as he opened people's gates, pulled dirt out of people's planters and dumped it on their front steps, and then ran into the middle of three deaf guys having a heated discussion in sign-language on their front lawn. The guys all thought it was pretty cute and so did I, but I was in awe of Kara's mellowness as she carried him over her swollen belly, kicking and screaming. She didn't even raise her voice or seem annoyed as she said, "No hitting buddy". I feel like she's an angel and I'm going to turn into a crazy Jewish mother running around screaming at my kid every time he gets a crumb on the floor (O.K. Not even close to reality, but I just feel that way). I think I am ready to sign up for anger management half the time.

You know what's great about having our own house? No more crazy landlord. Oh, did I tell you the latest in the Landlord Chronicles? Months back I ordered a year's worth of Croq zines from Heather in Portland. A month went by and I never received them. I e-mailed her and she had mailed them Priority Mail with delivery confirmation and it was signed for. Neither of my neighbors would steal my mail, nor would they sign for my mail and lose it somehow. I was stumped. Heather was generous enough to send me new copies. FF to last week, I walk in the vestibule and what should I see but the original package. According to my neighbors their months-old lost packages showed up the same day. We can only deduce that Landlord had been signing for our packages and just keeping them in his basement apartment because he was too lazy to walk them up the front steps to our entryway. Classic.

One more bragger shot: This is Harlan in his new, super soft Baby Beehinds bamboo and cotton diaper.

The House

We put a bid (a low bid) on a house in a great neighborhood, just minutes from where Joe will work. The neighborhood has been steadily going up in value for the last ten years when the first gays moved in and spruced up the fifties limestone houses into Dwell magazine modern homes. I'm not big on the new modern aesthetic, I'm more of a Victorian and fin de siecle kind of gal, but I can definitely fall in love with the fifties kitchens and spacious floorplans. And the small turn of the century homes that I saw were just way too small and un air conditioned. So here's the deal: We may not end up with this house but I wanted to be able to show it to friends and family and this format beats a massive e-mail with tons of attachments. I hope everyone else in the internets enjoys a little voyeurism into my life:

Going in the front door (I'm not showing the full front of the house for privacy/safety reasons):

Window to the right of the front door:

This funky shelf is by the thru-way to the kitchen/dining area:

Stacie is looking through the window into the garage door. When she looks to the left she sees this built-in:

Across from this built-in is the kitchen:

Spice cabinet under big cabinets:

There is also an oven built into the wall and a fridge and washer dryer that isn't hooked up:

Behind this area is a door that goes to what we call the "mother in law" annex. It's an addition that has three rooms, railroad style. The back room has tons of built-in shelves. I would probably use this area for a craft workshop and library to house all our books since the air conditioner is a wall unit and there is no central heat in this addition:




Back in the main house are three bedrooms. The master is L-shaped and has a bathroom in it. This is the linen closet and toilet:




Here is parts of the other bedrooms. It's hard to get a whole room in a shot:


Other bathroom:
So cool!
Fenced in back yard:

Jen and Yoshi saying hi to remind everyone that I will have friends with babies Harlan's age:

Quest for Diaper

Before I talk about diapers I'll spare all of you who don't have to worry about such things. Let's talk instead about great stuff to arrive in the mail this past week.

From the other side of the planet came a great package from Anastacia, a wonderful artist whose collages I have been admiring for a while:



It's a whole bunch of handmade tags, to go on gifts for others or to be hoarded by yours truly. I love the vintage children tags the best. These are definitely getting hoarded. I am making a small package to send over to A to thank her.
Speaking of collage work, I can't wait to get my greedy paws on one of Pixiegenne's fabulous decoupage suitcases this month at Renegade. To justify the purchase I am buying it for Harlan to keep his little Leggo and Fisher Price toys in. If he ever decides he is too old for it or it's just not "him", then I'll have to take it I suppose.
This official sewing pattern arrived from Liesl yesterday as well:
When I took her backpack making class last month we used a draft of the pattern. Now I have the finished publication, along with the book with directions. Great graphics and very comprehensive.
My Martha Stewart craft supplies came in quick time this week too. Oh, did I forget to confess to a little online shopping? I ended up buying the special ruler with the edge that attaches to the rotary cutter for automatic straight lines, no matter how much booze is in the system (or my case no matter how much clumsiness is in the system):

I threw in a lovely blue ink pad (images to come soon) and a couple of circular punches since they can supposedly cut through felt.

The only craft item I have done any work on lately is finishing up this baby pillow which is reserved for Kim S:

It was a lot of fun to make and I'll do a few more when time permits. I think it's just the kind of thing a mom wants for her baby's room. I know I do!

There is not going to be a plethora of crafting this summer. I am focusing wholeheartedly on moving south which is taking up almost all my free time. So far I have been looking at houses on the market (online) and tomorrow I fly down to see a few of them over the weekend. This is the first time I will be without Harlan for more than about two hours so I'm kind of scared, but also looking forward to the down time this trip will involve. My blog posting will probably only be about once a week until I am settled in our new home (and I have internet access. They have that in Texas right?)

Now, on to my Quest for Diaper. I originally decided it was time to switch over to cloth when the garbage issue reached full force in our building. Once El Raton was discovered I decided to cut down on garbage production as much as possible. Composting happened, and recycling went nuts. I even started saving plastic bags and batteries to bring over to Whole Foods which has bins to collect these items. I also really wanted to save money and to use something natural on my baby that would also be super cute and fun. The system I have been primarily using consists of a G-diaper which is sold with flushable inserts. I do not use the flushable inserts because they end up costing as much as disposables, and they do not hold much urine. Instead I place a micro-terry insert and a micro-terry doubler in the removable nylon pocket that snaps in the G-diaper cover. I wrap the two inserts with a biodegradable diaper liner for the purpose of easy-poop-removal. Just lift the liner off the diaper and drop the whole mess in the toilet. Then drop the dirty liners in the diaper bin to be washed. Assuming the diaper cover has not been dirtied, replace the nylon liner with a new one and plop in a new insert sandwich:
This is the inside of the diaper cover with the nylon liner holder:


Here it is with the insert sandwich put in:



Here is the whole thing on:


At night I like to use what is called a pocket diaper. The first pocket diapers I ended up liking are called Fuzzi Bunz. They are pretty popular. This type of diaper is like a pair of snap on panties that can be stuffed with additional inserts to absorb urine. Each pocket diaper must be washed after each wear. The outside of these diapers are usually made of a waterproof material called PUL, and the part that touches the skin is usually micro-terry fleece.

I discovered another brand of pocket diaper that is my favorite, called Green Acre Designs. These are made and sold by another "work-at-home-mom" so that is an added bonus for me. I love the design of these diapers and you can order them with custom color combinations. I started with a brown and pale blue combo and it fits like a glove and is super absorbent. No leaks at all:


The inside material that I chose (you can choose from a couple of different fabrics with GADs) is called suede cloth and it's made with bamboo which is very absorbent:


The fit of these diapers is really above and beyond the other brands I have tried. It's very trim and not bulky under clothes. Look how cute they look on:


I would use these all the time personally, except that I am concerned that the PUL outer layer is too hot for the Texas climate. I poked around on some diapering message boards (OK, I am obsessed, let's face it) and the message I got loud and clear is that cotton and hemp or cotton and bamboo fitted diapers beneath thin wool covers are the coolest and most absorbent way to go. At first I was quite skeptical about how cool it might be to wear wool in the summer, but then I remembered my corporate days of having to wear a suit all year long, and I did have a summer weight wool number from Brook's Brothers that was surprisingly cool. Here are two beautiful wool covers I ordered from Sugar Peas:


They sell hemp/cotton fitted inserts that snap inside:


All diapers need to be pre washed a few times before they become totally absorbent. This is especially true for hemp which apparently contains oils that need to be washed out of them before use . Wool diaper covers also need to be treated with lanolin on occasion to keep them water resistant. They do not require frequent washing and do not smell from contact with a dirty diaper underneath them. I also ordered a super luxurious wool cover from Kiwi Peels but it's back ordered. These are also handmade by a stay at home mom. She's sewing as fast as she can.

If any of you are interested in learning more about cloth diapering there are some great resources online. This forum has a ton of information for beginners, on everything about the choices available to how to prepare new diapers etc. I've been really enjoying posting on the diapering forums and exchanging information and support in a friendly environment, but, get this: The forums are frequented primarily by super Christian home schooling moms and super crunchy attachment parenting types. Who knew there was a world where these two worlds collided? I sure didn't. My friends and I have mulled over what the common ground might be and I have come to the conclusion that it's mostly about simplicity and living in a natural environment.

Cowboy Theme- Just in Time

Here are the embroideries I've done this past week. They'll be turned into various children's items and put on etsy as soon as they're finished. I had some trouble getting good photos so I'll have to re do them.

Cowgirl and cowboy kitties version 1 on linen/cotton:


Version two on vintage linen napkin:

Close ups of fireflies and French knots:




Banana cowboy on blue cotton:



Cowboy kitten on green cotton:


The big news here is that after two years of planning we're moving to Austin this summer. Joe got a job starting in mid-August. I'm relieved because this was a plan we came up with so that we could afford to buy a comfortable house in an area we have friends in, where I could continue to stay home with Bub for a while longer before returning to full time work, and where I don't have to deal with subway anxiety. I'm sad because I'll miss all of our friends and family who are here, and I'm scared because it's the unknown, even though I've moved to new cities several times in my adult life (two of those times being to Austin). This is the first time I brought two family members with me so I feel more responsibility and I can no longer toss everything into a Ryder truck (U-Haul sucks) and go.

I might even have a craft room one day :)