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Happy Holidays!

12/19/2012

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Things have been getting awfully festive at our house lately! We put up our tree last weekend (after way more drama than I anticipated to get some white wire tree lights). Fred remembered just after we were done decorating that the box of presents his mother sent were not for under the tree, but on the tree. We opened them up, and amongst our annual ornaments, a gorgeous set of red crocheted snowflakes!!!! (you can see part of one in my new header). So. Excited.
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There was also snowguy building! We had our first snow a week or two ago and the boys immediately got out an built a "snow guy". As you can see, 5 is pretty enamored...
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Until he finally melted away a few days ago, every exit and entrance included a stop to put an arm around the snow guy. What a good friend my little dude is.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

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Home Again

2/28/2012

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As much as we enjoyed playing in the 1/4" of snow in Madison... it's nice to be home.
Every month or so, a giant, Dr.Seuss-looking tractor contraption has to come by and remove most of our snowbanks so our street is more than 6 feet wide.
We got to watch yesterday!
5 makes excellent machinery noises.
For some additional perspective: the fence behind the snowbank is for a tennis court, like 14 feet high.
We've had a pretty light snow year...
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A Snowy Day

2/22/2012

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It snowed all morning yesterday in Madison.
We knew it wouldn't last so we bundled up and headed out!
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5 was very excited to be given free reign at the park, but I think he was confused by the very small amount of snow...
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There's my little gnome, looking for a hobbit-hole.
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He never did find one
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But the swings were pretty fun
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The walk home was a bit long...
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Quick Fix

2/7/2012

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Many of 5's legging-style pants are either getting a bit short or tend to ride up his beefy, I mean muscular, calves...
Enter Mama's socks with holes in the heel, or toe, or possibly both.
I know there are lots of options out there for baby legwarmer type things, but I love combining free new things with putting fewer things in the garbage (yay!)
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I'd had these marled cotton camp socks for probably close to 20 years (I know, how many socks can you say that about?) and really didn't want to throw them away, and I kept accidentally wearing them because Fred doesn't understand my terribly complex tiered laundry sorting.
So here's how I turned these mama socks into baby legwarmers-
get ready, it's pretty complicated-
I cut the foot off.
I might serge the cut end later. Might.
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On a side note- 5's sense of humor has been developing so rapidly, it now encompasses a "psych-out". Yep, for example, we might ask him for a kiss and he'll walk up real close pretending like he's coming in for a kiss, and at the last minute he'll grin and shake his head no and run away. He's a real card, that one.
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Remnants of the Week

1/27/2012

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First off, I really appreciated all the lovely comments I received and conversations that have started around my experiment with slightly more philosophical postings!
I thought perhaps Friday would be a good time to round up the remnants of daily goodness going on around here this week.
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Looks like a self portrait, eh? Yeah, it's not. 5 is obsessed with the camera, he loves to see the pictures of himself and other babies and always wants to lick the lens. Not sure if we have a budding photographer or a really strange male model on our hands...
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Super simple Hide-and-Seek is the. best. game. ever. We can play with just a ski pole hiding one of our faces. Laughs! Joy! Good times.
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I finally got this sweet babe proper snow boots that I am capable of putting on his chubby square feet so it's into the snow with us! This was his first time actually playing in the snow. He was into it, let me tell you. I brought him in once his mittens were soaked and he was so mad he kind of ran away from me. He's developed a hilarious Sidestep of Anger that he uses to show me when he is so peeved and it is impossible to keep a straight face...but I try.
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Fred got new slippers for Christmas. He wore slippers all the time before. I also wear slippers all the time (it's COLD). But these new slippers- they are fascinating. Every day, at some point, 5 pulls them of Dada's feet and takes them all over the house- on his hands, on his feet, pointing with them, handing them to us. It is the daily slipper show. It's nice to have a hobby I guess.
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Have any daily remnants of goodness to share?
Happy weekend to all of you!

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Oh the Glamor!

1/23/2012

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I am the first to admit that I'm not what you might call a philosopher. Usually pragmatic, occasionally whimsical, always sassy, but deep? Not so much.
This week, however, in the interest of de-cluttering my life and my mind, I'm going to share some things that have been weighing on my mind of late.
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As a child of the '80s, I have been marinated in advertising my whole entire life. Even my granola-eating, PBS-watching parents couldn't protect me from the insidious mind-skewing effects of marketing.
An example: I recently read a blog post recommending unitards as excellent postpartum wardrobe staples. This does not apply to me at all- 1) my baby is over a year old, I'm not really "postpartum" anymore 2) I already own a unitard, and 3) unitards are not very breastfeeding-friendly, at least not how 5 does it. And yet I found myself on the American Apparel website (which I don't even like) shopping for unitards!!
No, I didn't buy one, I snapped out of it in time, but still.
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So, today, I want to ramble on a bit about what I like to refer to as the difference between a friendly-word-of-mouth-type-gentle-endorsement and marketing. Especially in the age of the internet, with places like the blogosphere (I know, I try not to say such words...) sometimes the line is a little blurry.
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Most of the blogs I read are full of gorgeous photography. Beautiful images portraying lives that we should all be so lucky to lead and people that we should all be so lucky to be. Clean, attractive, well-dressed children parented by handsome, fit, well-groomed mothers and fathers who never yell at each other and grow their own organic produce. You know what I mean.
Each blog post is like a little advertisement for how much better our lives would be if we could just manage to be a little more awesome.
What I really appreciate about most of these bloggers though, is that occasionally (and really, that's all we need) we get to see a little crack in the facade, a tiny window into the crying and the dirty dishes and unwashed hair that lets us see enough to know that we are not so different after all. They admit that the internet version of their lives is a glossier, more glamorous version of their lives. Not meant to deceive, merely to inspire - both us and them to be these people who are living creative, fully-engaged, mindful lives.
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Advertising is full of people who are not even people anymore after all the airbrushing and Photoshopping. We could never be the "people" who use these products because nobody actually looks like that. These marketers are selling us images that inspire us not to be better versions of ourselves, but to be constantly disappointed by our inability to attain such impossible perfection (and therefore awesome consumers).
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I could go on and on about advertising, media, blah blah blah, but my point is really that I enjoy gentle endorsements from real people to be and do real things that just happen to look really good in photographs and I do not like "advertising".
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The connection between the photos and the words is  probably super obvious, but, just in case-
I was taking these pictures the other day while we were out skiing and I was thinking to myself that these photos were representative of the best possible skiing experience. Just looking at these photos, you can't tell that there are snot drips and wedgies whining about steep hills (yeah, that's me), it just looks like a serene winter wonderland populated by hardy winterized folk who chop their own wood and wax their own skis (I don't). But even if you are looking at them and thinking these things, you probably still know in the back of your mind that cold wind makes noses run and playing outside in winter will keep your more insulated parts feeling cold to the touch for hours. So you would probably not be disappointed if you then went for a ski and were not ready to join the Swedish Bikini Team.
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Coziness

1/4/2012

5 Comments

 

Look Ma, No Socks!

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We're doing our very best to be snuggly and cozy this week, although 5 DEFINITELY does not understand the link between wearing socks and NOT having icicles for feet...
In the spirit of coziness, I have a few things to share with you-

Mmmmm Quilty Goodness

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You may be thinking that this looks kind of familiar. Yeah, I *nearly* finished this quilt top way back when and it took me until Christmas to finally finish it! But! It is done now and just in time for a windy spell.
It is cold where I live. Not SO cold, but our house was (seemingly) insulated by a bunch of teenage boys with ADD so when it's cold and windy there are rooms where you can feel the breeze.... so new quilt=good.
A side note: you can see that we have a pretty serious brass bedframe in this picture. When my in-laws found themselves with some extra beds they asked us if we'd like one. I REALLY wanted this one just so I can sing that Bob Dylan song about laying ladies on his big brass bed. Ha, it never gets old, I'm chuckling right now.
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This is the quilt of all fiber dorkiness. It was my BIG Christmas prezzie for my Mom this year. I started work on it in September-
1. Dyeing the fabric
2. Screen printing the pieces
3. THEN making a queen-sized quilt out of it
Pretty awesome, it turned out almost exactly how I imagined. Thanks to Mom for taking a much better shot of her quilt than I did of mine...

Hot Drink With a Dumb Name

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I'm going to share the recipe for a drink I apparently didn't "invent" but more "discovered" as my husband claims to have invented the same drink 10 years ago. But I will point out that I'm the one who made up a dumb punny name for it.

Nocha (it's like a mocha, but with NOT coffee)
ingredients (to make 1 cup)

1 bag Roastaroma by Celestial Seasonings tea
2 Tbsp sipping chocolate mix OR
1 Tbsp cocoa and
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 mugfull boiling water
1/2 mugfull milk of choice (I've been using full fat goat, yum!)

I don't drink coffee and I'm not always in the mood for something as sweet as hot chocolate. The Roastaroma tea is great because it smell kind of like coffee, but is definitely not! This drink is hot, a little chocolatey, and not very sweet.

I boil some water in the tea kettle and then fill my mug with teabag up half way. I let it steep 5 minutes and then pull the teabag out.
Now it's time to add the sipping chocolate or cocoa/sugar mix. Make sure to stir in any lumps.
Add milk and drink! (Feel free to add whipped cream if you're feeling fancy...)
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Holiday Making

12/21/2011

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Butter and Sugar and Chocolate, Oh MY!

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This is but a small sampling of the holiday treats I made last week. Partly because I ate a lot of them.... but also partly because I have to keep some secret from some certain people who might see this post. If you have any last minute gifts to be made, any of these three would be lovely (to receive, but also to make!) The best part? All of these recipes are available on the internet! With more pictures than I ever would have been able to take while boiling sugar!

Peppermint Bark

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I made this one first. It was really pretty easy- I actually did it all in the microwave. I only heated the various chocolates for 30 seconds at a time and always stirred very well to prevent scorching. You can find the recipe here on Orangette.

English Toffee

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I will tell you that I LOVE to eat toffee, but did not EVER think that I would make toffee. Ever. But, I found a recipe that didn't require a candy thermometer, so I thought I MIGHT be able to do it. It is sooooo delicious! It has whole almonds and cashews in the candy part, plus toasty almond bits on top. It turned out perfectly. The recipe is here on GirlsGoneChild.

Lavender Caramels

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Sounds fancy, right? Right. This was by far the fanciest recipe I made- I saved it for last. I DID go out and get a candy thermometer, and I did wrap each one in wax paper. At just over an hour to make, this was way the longest recipe to make.. but totally worth it. The lavender is steeped in the cream and then removed, leaving such a fancy pants lavender flavor I feel like I should wear a hat when I eat them.
I got the recipe from the digital 2011 Winter Gift Guide Edition of Anthology- I think it's page 27 or so, but the whole thing is worth a read (or at least check out the pictures).

I will be taking a week off from blogging to accommodate lots of driving, followed by fantastic family gatherings. Wishing you a cozy holiday week full of camaraderie of the best kind!
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Coordinated Family Fun

11/21/2011

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That's right, we took our family cheesiness level to the max yesterday. We did a holiday photo shoot, in the snow, wearing our coordinated outfits. Fred thinks I've lost my mind, but he knows better than to question the woman who does all of our holiday stuff with nary a complaint...
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The fabric that is common to all three of our shirts is a vintage knit (cotton/poly blend I think) that I found at our local Fiberama! Isn't it grand? I feel like 5 just stepped out of an After School Special from 1982. Fred's sleeves are from a recycled Tshirt (it says "beef" on his shoulder, ha!), and both my shirt body and the ribbing are recycled on mine.
The photos were all taken by our friend Rachael (who also did my pregnancy photos). She does such amazing work, seriously, Fred is not photogenic, this is incredible.
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5 has been a teething dooze the last 24 hours- fever, crying, total crabness, not such great sleeping, etc- so knowing that I'd be getting all the photos this morning really helped me through. This afternoon, he was playing on the floor, starts crying and turns to me with blood all over his mouth. I'm SO glad I'd already obsessively read everything that can happen while babies are teething because it was hard to take even knowing it was normal!
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Even though I don't usually like pictures that accentuate my ever-deepening wrinkles, I think the black&white makes them look elegant and distinguished here....
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Look! You can see that first tooth that sprouted about 6 weeks ago!

Come back Wednesday, when I'll be talking about a super cool and easy crochet project I've been working on!

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Clean Hair, Warm Head

10/24/2011

4 Comments

 

Dude, Sweet Hat!

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5 and I had a rather leisurely day at home today- I am recovering from a little cold and 5 is growing little teeth. I did, however, manage to make a new product prototype- a recycled sweater baby hat! It turned out quite adorable if I do say so myself. We also got to take a much needed shower once Dad got home from work (who knew teething was such SWEATY work?)

On the product side, I have a tiny bit of pattern adjustment to do, but they should be ready for the Poor Artist's Sale in Calumet, MI on Dec 3! Rispok will be there in full effect, ready to fulfill all your holiday shopping needs! I'm even making the hats in two sizes! Baby (under 1 yr) and toddler (1-3 yrs). Hooray for head sizing!

What do you think? Do babies and toddlers need recycled sweater hats?

Is that Blue Steel?

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While I got to wash my hair without a babe in arms, the boys did a clean baby photo shoot. I think we all came out winners.
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Finally, a clean Mama and a clean baby get to snuggle and point at the (now) dirtiest (but still well-loved) member of the family- Dad.
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    Author

    My name is Ansley Knoch. I am the creator of Rispok, a line of accessories for big and little people made from repurposed materials. I live in Madison, Wisconsin with my husband, Fred, and our son, also Fred, better known as 5.

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