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.

One day at a time...

So as I type this (ignore what blogger says at the bottom of the post), it is nearly 2 AM on the morning of October 1.

We're celebrating 10/1 over at etsy by offering our photo mats one at a time--for the first time.

Check out our store as we will be listing quite a lot this week.

So far--we've sold one of these funky monkey mats this evening (or morning). Wahoo! When I first saw this fabric, I thought it would fly out of our hands. Not so...yet. My sister says that is because some people love sock monkeys and some people are afraid of them. I am in the former category. She is in the later.

Question of the day: (in her best newscaster voice) Where do you fall on this crucial sock monkey matter?