super-excited for this!

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Lucy is mad she is not invited.

a blog post, in three axiomatic chapters

1) better late than never
So, it's been awhile. I got out of the habit of blogging, and into the habit of facebook's quick fix. But I have discovered that I miss blogging. Miss taking note of something of interest, and saving it for later, to share. Miss turning an idea around in my head for awhile, and watching it take shape. So I'm back. For today at least. (Although Richard tells me that blogging is out of style. Oh well.)

2) patience is a virtue
Over the last year or so, I have mostly stopped biting my fingernails (my cuticles are a different story), and for the first time in my life, I pay attention to how they look, and even paint them from time to time. I painted them last week (gunmetal gray), and by this morning, they were a mess -- not fit to be on display at work. We were out of nail polish remover (amazing!), so I stopped at Happy Harry's on the way to work, and bought a jar of that remover stuff you just dip your fingers in. Obviously, I couldn't wait until I got to the office to use it (too exciting! too impatient!), so when I got to a red light, I opened the jar and promptly spilled acetone all over myself and my car (there is a lot more liquid in those jars than one might think!). I spent the morning in front of a space heater drying out my dress, and now my car smells like a nail salon. If you need me to drive you anywhere, just remember to bring your face mask.

3) honesty is(n't) the best policy
Lucy and I stopped at SuperFresh on the way home from work/school today and got sucked into an in-store demo of knives by the promise of a free knife and some pretty impressive displays of blade performance. The knives were amazing -- just ask Lucy. Not only did they slice tomatoes paper thin, but they also cut through a steel hammer and a block of wood (and were still sharp enough to make paper thin tomato slices!)....Duly impressed, under pressure from Lucy, and thinking about my friend Derek's summer selling Cutco knives (I still have one that he gave me as a wedding gift), I decided to pony up the $39.99 for not one, not two, but SEVEN knives, AND a food chopper, AND a juicer!! Amazing, right? So we went to the SuperFresh express lane with our groceries and our knives, and lo and behold, the check out girl neglected to charge me for the knife set. I had a moment where I debated leaving without saying anything, but then my conscience got the better of me (Lucy was with me after all), so I pointed out the mistake. The check out girl, clearly exhausted and uninterested in SuperFresh's bottom line, told me not to worry about it. Now, if this had been a $2.99 pack of Diet Coke, I might have let it go -- but really -- $39.99, and my kid at my side to boot? No way. We finished the transaction with the disinterested check out girl and walked over to the Customer Help desk. After waiting for an awfully long time to try to give SuperFresh more money, a customer service rep finally fixed the error and sent us on our way. We headed home to try out our fancy new knives, and make our fancy dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup, only to discover that I had left our freshly-purchased milk on the SuperFresh customer service desk. Grrrr. That's what I get for being honest.

la gatica chiquita

First, some advice. When you get your next kitten, please give her a real name, because when she escapes from the house and climbs 60 feet up the tree in your backyard, you are going to feel like a real asshole standing at the bottom of the tree yelling, "Tiny Kitten."

Also, should the above scenario befall you or someone you know, do everyone a favor and refrain from dispensing the two most useless pieces of advice:

1) "Put a can of cat food or tuna at the bottom of the tree." If the cat can't figure out how to get down, aren't you really torturing the poor thing by putting a tasty treat way out of her reach? I mean, maybe if a fat guy got stuck up your tree, you could get him to scramble down for a plate of nachos and a beer, but cats don't seem to think that way.
2) "Call the fire department" They don't really do that, unless the volunteer fireman on duty happens to be the brother of the kid who ice skated over your daughter's fingers resulting in her getting eight stitches and a deformed fingernail, and even when they do do that, they are not very good at it.

You should also refrain from making the following statement: "You never see a cat skeleton up a tree." Because, while that may be true, it is not particularly helpful when someone is trying to figure out how to get their apparently-really-stupid-and-frightened-cat out of a tree. But if you do think the cat is dead and turning rapidly skeletal in the tree, try to do a little more investigating before you and your child break down in hysterics, sobbing things like "Tiny Kitten was too young to die," because it is highly likely that the cat is playing possum.

So, you ask, what SHOULD do if your cat gets stuck up a tree? Borrow your neighbor's 40-foot ladder and call my brother Andrew.

she's crafty, part II

Just a quick update about our Clark Park Flea Market adventures....with pictures. Despite some setbacks (kitten in a tree, road closures, no coffee), I managed to arrive at Clark Park unscathed. Andrew had MANY terrariums (awesome!) and Marianne had vintage clothes (killer demin jumpsuit! you should buy it!) AND some crafts (mustache pins! amazing potholders!) We set up camp, and then basically hung out for about 7 hours, with a rotating cast of visitors, and periodic rain. Our booth was definitely the most fun (I felt kind of bad for the lonely jewelry-seller next to us -- we were kind of obnoxious, as you can imagine.) All told, I made about $70. To my surprise, my wallpaper notecards were my most popular item, and my button rings, not so much. Thanks to everyone who helped/hung out/bought stuff. Etsy shop will be up by the end of this week, and fully stocked!

she's crafty

I have been crafting like a maniac in preparation for the Clark Park Flea Market, coming up this Saturday, where I will be sharing a table with Andrew (whimsical terrariums) and Marianne (cool vintage clothes). Once the Flea Market is over, I will unveil my new Etsy shop -- LucyEatsCake. But I know you are on the edge of your seat to see my wares, so here is a preview:





Vintage Button Rings (I inherited an amazing button collection from Aunt Jud.)






Serving Trays (that's vintage fabric, also from Aunt Jud, who rescued it before a museum sent it to the landfill. remind me to tell you about the time we all had to catalog the fabric collection. it was pretty hilarious.)


Bulletin Boards with Vintage Button Pushpins (that's vintage vinyl wallpaper, which I ordered from eBay -- isn't it spectacular? I probably have enough to wallpaper your whole house, so just let me know if you are interested.)

I have a selection of other items -- some button magnets, notecards with wallpaper -- I have been a little obsessed. If you're in Philly on Saturday, come visit us....and after that, go see my etsy shop! I just need to earn enough cash to support my craft habit!

a photo tour

I usually post new pictures on facebook, often with little (sometimes amusing!) captions....but since I am struggling for a blog post topic, and hate to disappoint readers who are thirsty for an update (welcome to the club, Barbie!), I thought I'd give a little tour of my recent days, with photo exhibits.

Exhibit A: My Fridge
I opened my fridge yesterday, and it just looked so bountiful and pleasing that I had to take a picture. Here are some things you can see: 1) large plastic container of pureed strawberries from last year's picking expedition, thawing out to be made into jam (more on that later); 2) a big container of MJP-style potato salad for our Memorial Day cookout with my dad, Jenny, and Peter; 3) bread & butter pickles from Trader Joe's, best served on my favorite sandwich - ham, cheddar, spicy dijon mustard, pickles, on TJ's Tuscan Pane, toasted panini-style; 4) organic brown eggs from Margit & Marianne's CSA; and 5) fresh cilantro and a cantaloupe from the new Asian produce stand at the corner of Philadelphia Pike and Beeson Ave (amazingly cheap, totally non-organic produce).

Exhibit B: Strawberry Picking at Filasky's Produce
On Sunday, Lucy, Lindsay, Max and I headed down to Middletown, past every big box store and chain restaurant you can think of (Starbucks? check. Home Depot? check. Wal-Mart? check. Buffalo Wild Wings? mais bien sur.) until we reached the bucolic farmlands of Filasky's Produce. In about 45 minutes, we had each picked close to five pounds of sweet, juicy strawberries. If you've never done it, you really should. It's easy to do, and really becomes quite compelling - can you find THE perfect strawberry? After filling our buckets, which were deceptively roomy (5 lbs of strawberries is a lot), we headed to the produce stand to pay, and to buy the kids ice cream (it was almost 10 AM after all), and then headed back up north for Pajama Brunch at Buckley's. My blueberry pancakes were terrible, but everything else was good, and it was nice to hang out with the Lowry-Lebberns, an all-too-rare occurrence. I went home and set to work on berry preparation, while Richard kindly offered to go on a hunt for canning jars. You'll remember that in Exhibit A above, I referenced last year's berries.....So last year, I picked many pounds of strawberries in NJ, brought them home, cleaned them, pureed them, planning excitedly for fresh jam - while Richard went out looking for jars. Couldn't find them anywhere. Berries went into the freezer, where they have waited patiently for a year to be turned into delicious jammy goodness. So in some ways, canning jars are to Richard what Moby Dick was to Captain Ahab. And his quest this year was epic: SuperFresh, Happy Harry's, Dollar Store, Home Depot, KMart, Rite Aid, Christmas Tree Shop, and finally, Michael's, where you can buy Ball jars in the Wedding aisle (duh). Thanks to Richard, both this year's berries and last are now jam.

Exhibit C: LARPing in Clark Park
I don't know if you know this, but Richard is a bit of a geek. You know, he loves sci fi, played dungeons and dragons as a kid, reads comic books. And I know Geek is the New Cool, but still, some of geekdom is hard for me. Case in point: LARPing (translation for the uninitiated: Live Action Role Playing). This is where a group of people get together in public, often in costume, and act out battles with foam swords, often using various "magic" spells (have you seen the movie "Role Models"? That's LARPing.). On Saturday, we were in Clark Park with Margit and Marianne, enjoying a delicious ice cream cone from the Mister Softee truck, watching a very diverse group of people (black, white, asian, little kids, teenagers, adults, and even a couple of girls!) playing Capture the Flag, with foam swords. Lucy was entranced, and really wanted to play, but wasn't sure how. We watched for awhile, and it seemed like there were two teams, Headbands and No Headbands (we were very thankful it was not Shirts and Skins) who were each guarding a flag at a tree on opposite sides of the park. It looked like if you hit someone from the opposite team with your foam sword, they had to sit out for awhile, and could then rejoin the game after visiting their home tree. (I am sure there were many more intricacies that we were unable to ascertain just by watching from a bench.) Lucy kept saying she wanted to play, and we told her she could - she just needed to go grab a sword and start whacking people. Richard finally offered to walk her over to pick up a sword, and while he had it in his hand getting ready to offer it to Lucy, someone from the Headbands team instantly descended on him and gave him a whack. Margit, Marianne, and I almost died laughing. Richard and Lucy sparred for awhile, and then she joined the game and had a great time. (At one point, some of the game leaders called for a "Reality Check", which basically meant that the game stopped for a minute because something out of the ordinary had happened. Turned out someone was vomiting.) I just wish that the whole time Lucy was playing and having fun, I wasn't worried that she would turn into a weird kid whose only friends were people who LARPed. I insisted on calling it Capture the Flag with Foam Swords. I am a bad person.

Exhibit D: The Chickens Come for a Visit
Last weekend, Richard bought a nice pork roast at Trader Joe's that was really too big for the three of us, so we invited Andrew, Margit and Marianne over for dinner. Before we knew it, the guest list had grown to include roommates and boyfriends (which necessitated an additional pork purchase), and then there were some jokes about bringing all the dogs, and then, to Andrew, "Why don't you bring the chickens too?" So he did. In Andrew's West Philadelphia apartment that he shares with his very tolerant roommate Farris, Andrew is raising not only 1 dog, 3 stray cats (and a current litter of 4 kittens), 1 very mean turtle, and 1 stray adult chicken (Annie), but also 4 (or is it 5?) baby chicks (don't worry - the chicken coop is almost done!). The chicks came for a visit, and were delightful guests. As were all of the siblings, partners, and roommates - we love them all!

kirsten is writing this blog post

Has it happened to you yet? You're participating in some activity in your daily life, say cooking dinner or watching a movie, and you hear a third-person narration in your head....."Kirsten is cooking homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner," or "Kirsten is watching 'Frozen River' (Melissa Leo definitely deserved that Oscar nomination but man, is she looking rough)." It's like that movie where Will Farrell plays a writer who's disturbed by the voice of Emma Thompson narrating his life as he lives it -- but much more mundane.

It's the curse of the Facebook status update.

I have really noticed it this week, for some reason. In my mind, I'll sort of stop what I'm doing and think about whether or not my current activity would make a compelling status update. Because the status update really is an art form, I think. I am a fan of a pithy, amusing update -- one that makes me think fondly of the updater, and admire his or her clever turn of phrase. A mini book or movie review can offer nice insight into what you're interested in, and can spark some good discussion. A little mystery can be fun too, as long as it is not taken too far, or for too long. I also like a link -- if it is funny or interesting or food-related. I really dislike the complaints -- I actually de-friended one person whose more-than-daily updates ran the very narrow gamut of "Stacy (not her real name) sprained her ankle" (followed by at least 20 pictures of her swollen ankle) to "Stacy has a cold" or "Stacy is sad." I understand that sometimes you feel crummy and want some cyber support, but hey -- just try to make it interesting, and don't overdo it. (On the other hand, I have another FB friend whose exotic travel-related updates usually make me roll my eyes -- so maybe don't overdo it on the interesting either.)

I enjoyed doing status update haikus a couple of weeks ago -- I thought it gave the "form" some nice structure, and added an element of craft. (I am still considering starting a new haiku blog -- something along the lines of Haiku My Life - your life story in 17 syllables -- could be fun, right?)

But 95% of the internal status updates that zip through my brain do not pass muster, and I think with good reason. Do you really care that I ate a lean pocket and an english muffin for dinner (I did -- so sad) or that I need to trim my toenails but I can't find the toenail clippers (also true)? I will pledge to try to keep my updates interesting if you will. And let me know -- what are your key status update dos & don'ts?