I know why the caged bird sleeps.

My father says that I am like a little bird--not, mind you, because of my bone structure or my peckish little bites. I wish. Unfortunately, nothing about me is delicate, mostly because I am indeed often quite peckish.

No. My father says that I am like a caged bird, one that needs her caretakers to drop a black cloth over her cage so that she knows it is time to sleep. When I was in high school, he felt it was his job to lower the darkness each night. He went around the house in his red bathrobe, turning off all the lights and then he would say, "All the lights are out. Everyone else is in bed. It's okay for you to go to sleep now."

You see...my dad understands the reason I don't like to sleep. I hate to miss out on anything. I don't want you to have fun without me just because I'm getting 40 winks.

As I am still reminded, one of my first (and favorite) sentences as a toddler came in response to my parents' entreaties that it was time for a n-a-p. "But," I said, "my awake." Note: pic to left is me, circa 1982--standing near the bed and demonstrating just how bright-eyed i can be.

Tonight, I am dead-dog tired, but have I put on my PJs? Started my nightly ablutions? No way. Everyone else is up, so my awake too.

And as I most certainly am awake, I did a quick search to find some of my favorite etsy bird items.

I love these cards from JJB Studio. The original line drawings are darling and the details are great--especially the songs made of antique sheet music. Maybe if I buy these, I can write little love notes to friends and family next time I am trying to while away the evening hours (tomorrow night.)

Kitty Empire also has this fantastic messenger bag featuring a freed bird. I'm a big fan of Kitty's work. I recently featured another vegan friendly messenger bag from this shop in my laundry treasury (for a pic check out my previous post) for etsy.

I think I have a new favorite from Kitty's shop.

Finally, I want to highlight this amazing brooch from Wired called "First Frost." I recently bought a similar one in a different color pallette (love the muted, winter colors of the one below) for a member of my family--one of the few family members that I am hoping does not keep up with this blog!

It was more beautiful in person and could not have been an easier transaction. Craig--the artist behind Wired--was so so nice and completely went out of his way to make a piece that was not just good enough, but perfect for my loved one. I can't recommend his shop highly enough.

Okay, it's taken me an hour to complete this post and no one in my family has made a move towards sleep. So here I sit, anchored to the couch and holding my eye lids open. Still awake and still shopping!

The Jig is Up!

So I don't think that I can say that our products come from a pet-free environment...

This photo was taken moments after Richard tried to entice the cat with a pair of shoe laces. See how well it worked?

Kitchen Confidential

In my house, it's biscuits and butter--the old fashioned kind that are made with baking soda so they are a little bit salty. And chocolate cake with cinnamon and pecans. And potato soup with lots of black pepper. All from scratch.

By the way, isn't scratch a wonderful word?

These are the ordinary family meals that our lives are organized around. (We're carb people!) My great-grandmother made the biscuits first. She fed them to her children for as many meals as they could tolerate during the depression.

My mother made them for her own children as a special Saturday morning treat. At our house, they were served with butter and jam and syrup.

Now my husband makes the same biscuits to go with his soups. They are a part of my favorite evening meals--the ones that bring comfort against the cold or solice at the end of a difficult work day.

Life seems to happen around the kitchen table and it is those most ordinary moments that I also bring me comfort and solice when my world is rocked.

Today I am listing a new memory board in our etsy shop. I think it is totally darling in a bright kitchsy sort of way.

I already want one for my kitchen--one to hang up reminders, one to hold our memories, one to recall the laughter and love we've already shared together, so often in that very room. I look forward to the special Saturday morning breakfasts and the birthday parties to come. I want my own children to know that despite our sometimes meager means, we are rich in the things that matter--chocolate cake and love. And these are the recipes that will be their most precious inheritance, the thing that links us to those we've loved and lost.

I often think that when I am older, I will be able to look back on the tapestry of my life and find that the common thread that binds my memories together is baking soda biscuits.

The Other Religion

Here in Texas, we have two things that sustain us--faith and football. Faith in Football. Even better.

It's October and the football season is in full swing. My sister and I took Richard to his first Longhorns game a couple of weeks ago. It was a rare treat. They even won! Unfortunately for Richard, we cared more about how we looked in our burnt orange regalia than we do about the rules. He had to make a friend in the guy sitting in front of us just so he could follow the game.

When I see the event through his foreign eyes, I can understand what a spectacle it must seem--80,000 fans screaming from the stands as a live steer watches on the sidelines and a cannon goes off each time the team scores. Everything really is bigger in Texas.

It's also hotter--a lot hotter. And though football season has begun, we're still waiting for the weather to catch up here.

So I've decided to feature a few etsy items that are part of my fantasy football season.

The first store that I want to feature is See Also. I love the color and detail in these mittens, particularly the swirling brown loops on a fresh green mitten. Don't they match the new look of the blog well? I think they would be mine if it weren't so summer here.

And the "mismatched" pair in blue and brown is so fun. When I am a grown up, I want to have the kind of unanticipated coordination of this pair of mittens, unexpected and yet fitting as they are. If anyone could make mittens look sophisticated, See Also can. Besides, I noticed that the shop is located in Canada. Personally, I think Canadians know their mittens.

At my dream football game, I would walk through the stands, the crunch of autumn leaves beneath my feet and a cup of hot cocoa in my be-mittened hand. I would yell like a cheerleader (and look like one too!). With all that yelling, I'd need a nice scarf to keep my throat warm and in prime cheering condition.

For this, I'd turn to Little bit funky's store for this little number. As you can see, I love the chocolate and aqua combination. In fact, this fantasy scarf would look great with my fantasy mittens!

I also like the width and the slightly open weave. It has a real unisex feel. In fact, Richard would be grateful to have a new scarf I think. I "knitted" one for him one winter when he was in London and I was in Texas. Suffice it to say that Little bit funky has a little bit on me in the knitting department.

Finally, I think every couple attending a football game should have a blanket to snuggle under. Like I said, the rules of the game don't mean much to me. I know that makes me a football agnostic or something, but it's true.

I'd take snuggling any day.

For my favorite blankets on etsy, you would have to go to Lindy Lou. These patchworks of coordinated Amy Butler fabrics in muted blues and greens are right up my alley. Seriously, check out my store and understand why Lindy Lou might just be a soul mate. (I have my eye on some pillowcases in her store too!)

The major catch here: these blankets are for babies and at present there are no babies that reside in my house. But then this is my fantasy.

Maybe someday, Lindy lou will make blankets big enough for grown ups.

Maybe someday, I'll have a baby to wrap up in one of her blankets.

I certainly hope so.

Dirty. Dirty. Dirty.

Well no, not really. My latest treasury at etsy is devoted to laundry day.

To be honest, I haven't had to participate in laundry day at my house lately. I have a stay-at-home husband at present and he is kind enough to take care of this routinely. I am a very lucky girl.

So in honor of him--the man who refuses to use anything but a clothesline, much better for the environment that way--and in hopes of passing along my good karma, I am featuring several sellers with laundry related products.

Some of them even make the process look fun.

The Buy and Replace Debate

For those not familiar with etsy (and seriously, if you aren't...click the link and discover the wonderful world that awaits), the phrase "buy and replace" probably makes absolutely no sense.

Oh what wonders await you at etsy. (click the link. click the link.)

The Buy and Replace concept works like this: a list or treasury is made with a number of sellers. If you buy something from one of those sellers, your shop replaces theirs in the list or treasury.

Some people love BnRs (as the etsians say). Some people don't. I have been putting us forward in them a bit lately because I am doing a lot of my holiday shopping on etsy and I might as well get us some publicity too.

Here are some Buy and Replace opportunities that you can find us at right now:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10527
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10573
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10579

Check us out there and tell me what you think of the Buy and Replace concept.

The Inspiration of Plain Jane

I just saw Becoming Jane in the theater this evening. It was a lovely, loving little flick and one that any self-confessed anglophile (see post below) should see.

I believe that I may indeed be in love with James McAvoy now.

I know that I am in love with Jane Austen.

Several years ago, I visited her adult home at Chawton. The house was a postcard idyll. The seventeenth century cottage had sash windows and creaking wooden floors and wide door ways and ancient trees. It was romance and tradition at once. It was also drafty and rather small.

And the smallest thing in the whole place was Jane Austen's writing desk. No oaken behemoth, the desk instead resembled one of those desks (antiques by a Texan's standards) from my elementary school which was basically a chair with a tray attached, a tray about one inch wider and longer than a ledger sized piece of paper--the kind of desk on which you can't write and rest your elbow at the same time.

On this cramped desk, in this rather ordinary home, Jane Austen wrote some of the best novels ever written in the English language. And she wrote those novels when the form was just that--novel.

If Jane could change literature forever, if Jane could change expectation forever (after all, she was a woman who could write as well as a man...gasp) while writing on this tiny little desk (and answering the door and serving tea), why should I ever feel discouraged?

Comparatively, my pursuits are small and my resources are vast. My opportunities would be unfathomable to Jane. I never, ever have to serve tea. (Good thing, too, my british inlaws would probably tell you.)

This week, Katie and I made some elaborate plans about the future of our store. I was exhilarated by the brainstorming as it happened, and then immediately wracked with worry and doubt. But the dreams we have are within our means and the space we have to maneuver in is vast enough for all our visions. At least at the moment.

This is what I learned tonight: when I grow up, when I really grow up, I want to write like Jane Austen--and look like Anne Hathaway.

Top Ten Reasons I'm an Anglophile

Today I finally made a treasury over at etsy that I am very proud of--so proud that I am devoting the blog to the same topic as my treasury: Anglophilia. Specifically, my deep, abiding case of it.

The treasury has a bunch of great items that are either related to my love of Britain or made by British crafters. See the world. See my treasury. (For those who don't make it over before the treasury expires, I will be posting some of the great items so that you can admire those sellers as much as I do.)

Here are ten things that I love about Britain:

1. The accents...and yes, there are many. Everyone seems to have a different one there and they all sound like music to me--especially Welsh ones. Usually, I can't understand what Welsh people say, but I find myself smiling and nodding in genuine agreement as their words up and down and dance all around.

My favorite accent of all time, though is, of course, my husband's. I love the way he says puuh-fect in stead of perfect and s-ree lan-ka for sri lanka and when he's annoyed with me, I'm Ray-chuw and not Rachel. His words make me melt. (They make a lot of other Texans melt too. He gets lots of free food--and a job offer--because of it.)

2. Tea time. Is there any cozier daily ritual? I always feel renewed after having "a cuppa" with my British friends.

3. British people have the best coats. Think about it. They have to wear them all the time. If it was nighttime starting at 2 in the afternoon for half the year AND it rained every single day AND the temp never EVER seemed to top 65--I'd have a great coat, too!

4. They have huge working vocabularies. When Richard and I have children, I think I'm only going to let him talk to them. That way they will learn words like whilst and hegemonic and they will actually use them. All the time. If I teach my kids to speak, they'll say things like yeah, mom and dad, i'm fixin' to do what y'all asked. Which would you choose?

5. Hats. Lots of amazing hats, especially at weddings and when they go to the races. (Sigh...they go to the races.)

6. There are vending machines devoted to selling cadbury's chocolate in most train stations.

7. Last time we visited, my husband had to go to the emergency room. No one ever asked how he was going to pay for the visit.

8. Shakespeare was British. And so was Dylan Thomas. Everyone in Monte Python was British. Nigel from Top Model is British, too. And Twiggy. So are the Beatles. Prince Harry is British. And my two beautiful nephews are British. And so is Winnie the Pooh. (Personally I think the oldest bears a striking resemblence to Winnie--only my nephew is cuter and prefers yogurt to honey.) And Beatrix Potter. And Harry Potter. And Mary Poppins. And Julie Andrews for that matter. I think I've proven my point.

9. I lived in the Forest of Dean, England for the year that I was two. I have few memories of it, except for the taste of cherry yogurt, and a daisy chain that my "child minder" made with me, and the sheep that ate our grass. But I think that it imprinted England on my heart forever.



A few pics from that first year:

I also got into hats whilst there...when in Rome, right?

And drum roll, please...

10. Did I mention that I have the most darling British husband in the whole world? back then...playing the good english boy

and now...

I guess he's always the beginning and the end of it for me.

P.S. here are some screen shots of the treasury as it is about to expire. I think that these great sellers will still be around even if you read this next month or next year. Check them out at www.etsy.com today.

Labor Day

On this holiday weekend, it seems fitting to consider those who won't be going on vacation, the people who can't afford an extra day off, the ones who work so that the rest of us can play. There are plenty of people in this country that depend on minimum wage to buy food and to provide shelter. A three day weekend doesn't really do them much good.

I have spent a great deal of time in the etsy forums recently. Lots of posts talk about needing a sale. I believe these people--mostly because I need a sale too. I would love to make enough in my store to pay for my monthly electricity bill or to make my student loan payment or to build a nestegg so that my new family doesn't live month to month. In these ways, I need all the sales I can get.

And yet, I know very little of need.

The etsy venture that Katie and I began planning for in May was financed relatively easily. We work hard because we want to make our money back and more. But neither of us actually depends on this income and I doubt that we are alone in that in the chatrooms and forums of etsy.

We began because we wanted a different quality of life. Not because our lives depended on it.

There are people in this country and around the world who will be laboring on Monday. Most of them won't even be aware of the holiday. It won't really matter for the ones that do know about it.

There are so many people who work to live. To survive.

Because we aren't in that position, because we feel lucky to have abundance, because we were able to choose to change the quality of our lives, because we don't worry about survival, because we have a world class education (that's what those loans were for), because we have so many options, because we have etsy, because we have each other--we want our products to help others have options too.

When you buy from us, 10% of the purchase price will go to organizations that make microloans to people in the developing world. Microloans are very small amounts of money (to us)--often as little as $25--loaned with manageable repayment terms to start up a very very small business.

Most of the recipients of microloans are women. We kind of like that--women still have a way to go in the world and one more helping hand isn't going to hurt.

The amounts are small. We like that too--our small donations make a difference to someone somewhere.

These are loans, not charity. We are happy to give to charities too and we believe in the great work that they do as well as the deep need for nations and multinational corporations to do their part on the grand scale to make whole countries better. We want more of that, not less. But we also understand that a loan can be equally empowering--when the terms are fair.

When we help change the world (with your help, of course), we want it to be transformed into a world where women everywhere feel the same sense of pleasure at having had the opportunity to earn just a little bit of money, a little bit of respect for the hard work that they do. That has been our greatest pleasure since starting our venture--our adventure.

Learn more about microloans here.

And please do check in on a regular basis to see how much you have contributed to the lives of women whom you've never met. (I guess that is us too!)