Can Lady

After moving to Ludington, Michigan we had a bunch of friends and family over to help paint a few rooms in the house we currently rent. As a thank you we bought everyone beer and pizza for dinner after we finished. After most people had left that I night, I distinctly remember cleaning up, separating cans and glass bottles for recycling when my mother-in-law who was wiping down the kitchen counter remarked, "I hope you're not recycling those. You take them back for the deposit."

"Deposit?" I stood there confused. What? We aren't homeless. I had this vision of standing in line at a recycling deposit center with my fellow can-collectors wearing tattered gloves, smelling of aged foods and stale beer, my trash bag slung over my shoulder like Santa Claus. I didn't understand. Every place I lived in my life (Houston, Chicago, Phoenix, Kansas City, Fort Collins, Lawrence, Dallas, New York City) there was a preconceived notion attached to can-collecting-- That's what poor people do.

Later that night:

"Will, are were we poor?"

"No, sweetheart. We are not poor."

I learned that in Michigan every bottle deposit is a dime and those dimes adds up quickly. Everyone takes bottles and cans back for the deposit. Really? Really. So, the above picture is of me and my grocery cart of aluminum wealth. Common practice nowadays.

Note: No, that is not our circa 1989 wood panel soccer mom minivan behind me.

Good As New: Greenhouse

I've been dreaming in green all week. And those dreams have been vacationing to these re-purposed greenhouses.

It snowed here in last night. No surprise.

As I lay in bed this morning, I was thinking how lovely it would be to get up, throw on sweats and a pair comfy boots, and go play in my greenhouse. Like visiting a morning in June any day of the year. (Hmmmm.... )

Is it spring yet?

Reading Together: My Garden

In effort to brighten up the drab and gray February day, we've been reading My Garden by Kevin Henkes. I've always been a fan of Henkes and when I first came across this book last year, LBD was merely a burgeoning bump in my belly. Nonetheless, I knew it would be a story I'd share with my daughter. The book is of a girl helping her mother in her garden, daydreaming about a garden of her very own. A garden unlike any ordinary garden. Naturally, when I read this book 7-months pregnant,  I began do a bit of daydreaming of my own. Of working in a garden, a little girl next to me, digging in a plot of dirt for her own musing. What would we be planting? Snapdragons and climbing cucumbers? Arugula? Sunflowers? And hollyhocks? What will she look like? What will she be like? What is her favorite color? Would we eat peanut butter banana sandwiches for lunch? Will I be a good mother? Will she love me?

As I read her this book, I think of that fictional day and that the answers to the majority of those questions are still unknown. She looks at me, blue, blue eyes and smiles. My heart grows. She can't say it, but this answer I know.

I couldn't pick one favorite line, so I picked couple:

"In my garden, the flowers could change color just by my thinking about it-- pink, blue, green, purple. Even patterns."

and

"At night, the morning glories would stay open, shining like stars, and the strawberries would glow like lanterns."

Looking forward to Keven Henkes' latest, Little White Rabbit.

Pea and Poo

My baby bird.

Every time she sees a spoon her tilts her head up and opens her mouth. Wide. Except if there happens to be peas on the end of the spoon. Then she suddenly develops lockjaw.

New Location

This blog has moved to: http://www.sturdyforcommonthings.com/

Hope to see you there!

Old School

I had to drive to Manistee (only 35 minutes north of Ludington) on Wednesday and this old schoolhouse-turned-antique-shop-now-vacant-building caught my eye. And then when I was driving back down the same road to go home I noticed the FOR SALE sign on the steps. Yes, please! Will and I always talk about turning an old school house into a home someday.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

I saw this vegetarian burrito recipe a couple weeks ago and thought the sweet potato and black bean duo would make a delicious dinner. I didn't make it sooner because the recipe noted that it takes a total of 80 minutes to make. This wouldn't have been a problem pre-baby,  but these days by the time it's 7pm our house is already slowing down for bedtime which is why I don't like dedicate to much time in the kitchen for dinner. When she is finally asleep for the night Will and I revel in the glorious peace of doing absolutely nothing. That said, I wasn't thrilled about the time commitment so I cooked the sweet potatoes the night before and was able to make them start to finish in 40 minutes. A much more appealing time commitment.

The only part of the recipe I changed was the addition of shredded cheese, which was added to the gooey sweet potato black bean goodness before baking.

Moi?

He always looks so innocent....

And then you turn around. Crash! Bang! Boom!

Good As New: Serving Trays

The lease on our house is up in April, so we will be moving. Again. Which means no projects for me for awhile. But even though I don't have any future home improvement tasks, I'm always on the hunt for ideas when we eventually settle down in a home. I'm hoping this will be sooner rather than later, because my binders and web bookmarks are overcrowded as is, which is why they have a new residence on this blog.

Upcycled concepts especially catch my eye, so when I saw these vintage trays used as magnet boards or wall decor I thought they would make a great first addition to my new inspiration filing cabinet.

Family Excursion

Over the weekend, we made the trip from Ludington to Chicago (a 5-6 hour drive with baby) to visit a few of my relatives. Most of whom I’ve seen recently and a few I haven’t seen in 6 years plus.

Oh, and the fun we had!

We stayed at my Aunt Carol (my mom's sister) and Uncle Norm's house. A place where a many, many family gatherings have taken place over the years and so I return with a family of my own.

On The Road

Will, Lorelei, and I are going on a little road trip this weekend to visit my relatives in Chicago. We're leaving this evening and coming back Sunday afternoon. Short trip, right? Well, someone (I'm not going to name any names) regardless of how small she is, and the brevity of the excursion, has packed what looks like a month's worth of stuff. It never fails to surprise me how much a wee baby needs...

(By the way, those dinosaur pajamas are Will's.)

South By Southwest

This is my "just because" present from Will, a southwest, vintage-inspired cuff.

Love that man of mine!

When I was younger, I lived in Paradise Valley, Arizona and thus my interest in Native American culture was born. This cuff reminds me of reading Chief Seattle's famous letter to the United States Government for the first time.

*top image from Earthhart Jewelry

Lesson In Monkey Jumping On The Bed

I did a stupid, stupid thing on Monday. I sat my 7-month old on the bed, turned for one second to hear a heart-stopping BAM followed by a scream. My baby girl had fallen from the bed and bumped her head.  I write this utterly embarrassed of myself.

Of course you hear stories of this happening all the time, but I was smug and thought, “I’d never, ever be so dumb as to let something like that happen.” What had possessed me to put her on the bed? What was so important that I had to advert my eyes from her for a moment? Clearly, I wasn’t thinking.

The good news is LBD is fine. I called the doctor hysterically crying, at that point more than the baby, and was told to take to the ER to be on the safe side. After the fall, she screamed for 2 minutes and then was giggling at our kitty before I even managed to get her in her car seat to go to the hospital. She checked out great at the hospital and was her normal, energetic self the rest of the day and night. The only remnants of the trauma, a small purple bruise in the corner of her eye.

I, on the other hand, was not okay. And I don’t think I’ll be okay for a while. Even though the doctors and nurses at the hospital offered relief with personal accounts of similar happening to their own children, I remained sick with guilt. Humbled by the experience as a first time mom.

As parents, we try so hard to protect our children from harms way, but even the paramount of parents, without fail, have human moments. Mistakes are inevitable. That same day, my husband (my darling husband!) came home from work in the evening with a card in which he wrote, “Just remember, what sticks is all of the positive ways you impact her. Nothing else.”

All we can do is learn from mistakes made.

All we can do is our best.

Spring Soon

When you live in a small town that hails as a summertime vacation destination, winter can be a downer.  After months of gray skies and snow and snow and more snow, I now understand why my husband, who grew up in Ludington, laughed when I told him a few months back that snow doesn't bother me. Well, as a newbie small-towner, a new stay-at-home mom, and the whole weather factor, I had my first experience with the cabin fever. 3-4 day stretches of never leaving the house can drive anyone stir crazy.

But this week the sun has returned to us. Like taking off a pair of sunglasses, pupils naked to the brilliant light. The temperature has been above 20 degrees and the large accumulation of snow is finally melting. The homecoming of spring-like symptoms brings a welcomed change of pace.  Locals emerge from hibernation and the town slowly comes alive again. One of the best parts about springtime in Ludington is businesses that are only open seasonally dust off their counters and unlock their doors. "Nice to see you again!"

Chef John's is one of those places. I've been craving Chef John's Dill Havarti Soup since it's autumn close. I'm salivating just thinking about it. And since Will and I are vegetarians, this opening gives us one more option in the nominal restaurant department. Ode to spring!

On a side note, this picture of Chef John's reminds me of another newity.  I've never seen a snow plow attached to a standard vehicle. Being from large cities with efficient street maintenance departments, I thought it looked silly at first until I started seeing them on almost every truck in town after the first snow. Then I knew I was in for it.  I suppose small-town cars will have their seasonal transformations too.

Cookies Because

Since I wrote a post earlier about cookies, I had a craving to make a couple batches.

Cookie of the day? Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. I used this recipe with the following amendments. I used light brown sugar instead of dark brown and I added more chocolate chips. Because I like my cookies extra gooey and chocolaty.

These are awesome good...

Story Time

I can’t remember the first time I became aware of my love of reading. It’s always been apart of me and my mom is the one to thank. She would read to me daily and once I learned to read on my own, she made sure I always had a new book to read. She's an avid reader and now I am one in the same.

Naturally, I read to my daughter now.

Right after graduating from college, I worked in the Barnes & Noble in the children’s department as Miss Becca, the story time lady. I loved this job.  In the mornings, I would read picture books to toddlers and in the afternoon I would assist young readers and mothers of young readers in finding new books, a matchmaker introducing story characters as potential new best friends.

Ever since that job a many, many years ago I've enjoyed Amy Krouse Rosenththal's books. Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons is a current favorite at our house this week. To sum it up, it's a book that explains morals through the universal language of cookies. The illustrations of the animals along with the text are hilarious.

Favorite line: "Modest means you don't run around telling everyone you make the best cookies, even if you know it to be true."

As an aficionado in cookie, I wish this book was around when I was little. Maybe I would have learned a thing or two.

*Image from Amazon.com

Second-hand Valentine

How could you not love second-hand clothing when you have a baby? Most times the little boogie only wears an outfit once before growing out of it. Will's cousin, Jocie, has two little girls and was gracious enough to give us loads of their baby clothing for Lorelei. Over the weekend I sorted through the baby's wardrobe, putting away items that don't fit and bringing out larger outfits that were put in storage. (Which has become an almost bi-weekly project!) Anywho, came across this hand-me-down ruby beauty that looks like it might have been a Christmas dress, so we improvised...

Community Nap

Even dads and teddy bears get tired.

Mommy gets Sunday afternoon all to herself.

Breakup and Makeup

The first 20 years of my life, I was a swimmer. After high school, I had the privilege to compete at the collegiate level. To be given a scholarship and eventually be named a team captain. Not to dwell too much on the breakup, but during the last meet of my career, my athletic world unwound. I swam worse than I’d ever swum, I had failed my team and myself leaving, and I was devastated because of it.

After that I stopped swimming. It’s been 6 years.

And I really shouldn’t have. It was only one meet.. But I couldn’t let it go. I couldn’t forget the weight of anticipation nor the countless hours of preparation that went into that one moment. Years of obedient devotion vanished.

Swimmers are a rare breed and we like this about ourselves. There is no “off season”. We were finished with our first practice of the day before most morning alarm clocks wake the slumbering.  We speak in code; in sets and times. We are fixated on time… minutes, seconds, tenths of a second, hundredths of a second.  At the end of a race, all faces raised to the clock.  Eyes would never drift too long from its steady pace.

The other day I was reading the novel, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and something he wrote really resonated with me. He relates a character’s sudden fallout with her sport to what it’d be like to lose your religion. How all of a sudden something that is your one constant in life, that you devote everything to, loses all of its significance.  I must have reread those few paragraphs at least ten times, because what he was able to describe I haven’t been able to verbalize. Maybe what happened during that championship I became a converted a “nonbeliever”? Talk about terrible timing.

A few weeks ago I got back in the pool. In retrospect, its pretty ridiculous how I allowed all of this to get in the way of something that was so much a part of me. I love the water. As a girl I would swim for hours and never tire. I love the sensation of water washing over your hand. It reminds me of rolling down a car window on a crisp morning, arm extended, breaking the cool air with your fingers. I’m getting back to that. Watering down what was an extremist’s devotion to the simplicity of first love. Finding my faith again in swimming. Finding faith in myself.

Old Soul

I am a lover of old things.

Old houses, old movies, old clothing, old furniture, old fabric, old books, etc. When Will and I moved into our charming Park Slope apartment together we didn't have a whole lot of furniture.  So, on a warm Saturday morning  I set out with a friend to the Brooklyn Flea Market to see if there were any good finds for cheap. What did I buy instead of purchasing something useful like an end table or a lamp? A 1913 Victor Victrola in good, working condition. Way, way better than a lamp in my opinion.



I'm a believer in buying old versus buying new. And buying old to create anew. "Upcycle" is word I've incorporated into my vocabulary recently. It is defined as the process in which something old or something that would ordinarily be thrown in the trash is converted into something of  better quality and value. Essentially, giving it a second  life.

Plant Eaters

"I think I want to be a vegetarian." This was the last phrase I ever thought I'd hear my meat-loving husband say. In the past, I had dabbled in vegetarianism before but never fully committed to the practice.  So, when Will mentioned that he wanted to become a plant eater I was all about it. I mean... becoming a vegetarian wouldn't be too hard on my end. As long as I can eat cookies and candy, I'm happy.

[caption id="attachment_65" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Will and I the vegetarians!"][/caption]

At first, we thought this was going to be quite a challenge. Au contraire, mon frere! It has been extremely easy. Both of us enjoy cooking and have welcomed the task of preparing new dishes. The only problem we have found ourselves having is going out to eat in our itty bitty town. Most restaurants have only one or two options to choose from on the menu, so we are less inclined to go out to eat. Not that we've been getting out much since the baby was born. And not there are tons of eatery options here either. (Oh, how I miss sushi! And crave thai!)

That said, we are left to our culinary imaginations.

What to make for dinner tonight?

Lake Effect

Usually when you think of the beach snow doesn't come to mind. Took this picture of Ludington Beach today while on a short drive. If the weather isn't too bad, LBD and I go for a ride so she can get her afternoon snooze in.

Under Construction

There are a few changes going on around Sturdy For Common Things. When I started this blog, I really didn’t really have any idea of what direction to take it in, so over the weekend I did some organizing. I made a header! In photoshop! (My first time using photoshop!) All by myself! I put together a few pages/categories/tabs or whatever the subject thingies are under the header. As a novice blogger, these constructions took the majority of Sunday afternoon. 

I still have a feeling that this blog will be a lot like moving into a new house. It’s going to take awhile to get it to be exactly how you’d like it. And even more so like a home.