Category Archives: Domestic Arts

Art Every Day Month – Day 29

While including food might be pushing the definition of “art,” I decided that today’s creation would suffice for AEDM. At least it’s a domestic art, and one can enjoying looking at, smelling, and tasting it. I cooked the little pumpkin we bought last month and pureed it, and then I made the bread from a recipe on Allrecipes. (Note that I used two 9×5″ loaf pans instead of the three 7×3″ in the recipe.) It is really good — Claire devours it (and this is how she gets an orange veggie, since she refuses them in other forms), and so do my friends and I. It’s the kind of bread that tastes better after a day or two as the spices meld.

pumpkin bread - art every day month 08 - day 29

Pumpkin Bread

Art Every Day Month – Day 23

Our date was lovely. We decided that since we rarely get to enjoy a meal without refereeing someone, we would have a leisurely dinner. Then we went to a toy store to look for possible gifts for Claire (we are setting a budget) and then to a bookstore to drool over books we want for ourselves. It was a later night than usual, but I’m glad we made time for it.

Here is today’s piece. I’m feeling unsure if I can come up with stuff for the next eight days; my inspiration well feels dry. Oops! I hear Claire awake from her nap.

ornament - art every day month 08 - day 23

Art Every Day Month – Day 2

My effort today is less art and more craft. (Not that knitting isn’t art, but a simple dishcloth is pushing the concept; now a lace shawl or something akin — that is art.) However, this is what I created today. Recently Husband purchased a knife sharpening kit and sharpened all our very dull blades. This has made cooking much easier and more fun; however, we learned the hard way that we cannot wash the knives with my hand-knitted dishcloths. One of them was shred to bits, and so this one replaces it.

art every day month 08 - day 2 - pink dishcloth

I spent a lovely afternoon visiting with a relative — a second cousin on my father’s side of the family. She was a fascinating person to talk to and before I realized it, I’d been there nearly four hours. I learned a couple years ago that I had relatives in the Bay Area, but without a premise for contact I didn’t pursue it, and I was busy, so the time wasn’t right. My parents recent visit catalyzed the connection.

Claire had a rough day today. I felt her gums, and she has an upper left molar coming through, plus the rest of her gums are very puffy. She has new words, though: all done, bird, cracker, excuse me (coo-mee), gate mouse (mess), pear. She mimicks what she hears really well.

In Case You Wonder

Besides playing with my lovely amazing daughter every day, I do other stuff too, such as clean the very gunky oven and making the whole stove sparkle like new. Here is evidence of my efforts:

ooo shiny

I committed to doing Art Every Day Month in November. However, I’ve no idea what I’ll do, or if I’ll do much at all. I’ve never felt busier in my life, nor more content.

Treasures

As a child I liked to collect small items and keep them stored in a little box. Periodically I would open it and look at each item, one by one, remembering where I had found it, or from whom it came. These things often were little souvenirs (mostly found, not purchased) from our many camping trips. Other times, they were small items given to me from someone special.

Claire has received a few similar items from her grandmothers, and until recently I was wondering where and how to store them until she is old enough to appreciate them. I decided it had been too long since I’d been crafty, so I transformed a shoe box into a treasure box. This is how I spent all my free time from Saturday until today, and it brought hours of pleasure that I hope will be paralleled by Claire’s. The image on the top of the box is a drawing I made when I was pregnant for her, called Mama Moon. She has a copy of the print hanging on her bedroom wall, and she says goodnight to Mama Moon every night. Here’s the box:

treasure box 1
treasure box 2
treasure box 3
treasure box 4
treasure box 5
treasure box 6
treasure box 7
treasure box 8
treasure box 9

It’s Not Art, Exactly

My mother sent a calendar that had gorgeous food photos with the suggestion I might use them with Claire. So today I quickly glued them to Bristol paper, which will make them less fragile. I’ll trim the edges once they are all dry. There has not been much time or energy for knitting or other creative art ventures, so in the meantime this must do.

produce photos to use with claire

The photos are from the Center for Science in the Public Interest calendar.

Patience, Grasshopper!

Scene: Dinnertime, 6:30 p.m. I am standing at the kitchen counter, Husband is leaning against the sink.

Me: I swear, Claire seems hungry every hour lately. I’m chopping up some vegetables for her. [Claire is clinging to my butt, whining in hunger.]

Him: What did you make for dinner?

Me: I made chicken ratatou–ee-yOUCH!

Him: Did you cut yourself? What’s wrong? [He immediately steps over to check on me.]

Me: Claire bit me! The little rascal just bit the back of my thigh!

Him: Oh, I thought you’d cut yourself.

Me: She bit me! She bit me! What an impatient little stinker.

Him: Well, she takes after her mother. [wink]

Nasty Drivers and Spoiled Fish

For reasons I don’t want to go into (mostly because they’re boring), the past couple days have been rough for me. I am raw and short on energy and patience. At a stoplight, I had my right turn blinker on. It’s an option to turn right on red (unless there’s sign prohibiting it). I was about to turn when the driver behind me honked. So I didn’t. That’s the kind of mood I’m in — something mean within digs in its heels. She honked again, and I saw her gesticulating in the mirror. I waited until the light turned green and went, and waved at her as she roared past me all the distance of one block to turn left; she flipped me the middle finger through her sun roof. I know it’s not mature or honorable behavior. I don’t like it in myself. This all happened within a mile of my home as I returned home from a nice outing at the park with a friend. I know, I should have walked instead — except here there’s a risk we’d be run over by the same driver. Such is life in an overpopulated area. Grrrrr.

I got home to cook the salmon I bought yesterday to find it had turned bad. It smelled fishy, which is a sign of very old fish. The whole fridge smells funky now.

Claire is starting to arch her back and thrash and scream when something happens she doesn’t want, or when something she wants doesn’t happen. Toddlerhood tantrums already?

I got NO time to myself this past weekend (except for one nap, but I’d like some awake alone time), since we had family errands and housecleaning and some social commitments. I also have very little say over my schedule as far as when things happen (nothing is much in my control), even on weekends.

Something I started to knit I had to frog (“rip it” out) because I made a mistake and couldn’t figure out how to fix it.

What’s so very bothersome to me is the way incidents such as those in the first paragraph stay with me, and how a sour hatred toward humanity rises up in my throat when I’m feeling this raw.

Cranky, cranky, cranky. Will someone show me some love in the comments? If you need incentive, here’s one:

loves the fan

Zigzag

In an attempt to break out of my safe little rut, I tried a new pattern. It’s not as though the stitch is difficult; it involves binding off and picking up stitches, but I’d never tried changing directions before. This is an accent scarf, and it’s intended to be worn to jazz up an outfit. It’s not designed for warmth (and considering it’s 102.6F right now, that sounds just right). I don’t know the recipient yet. I might use it as a gift. Or maybe someday I’ll try to sell what I knit at least to recoup the expense of the yarn. The skein was 130 yards and cost $15, which is on the pricey side for me. (Anybody want to buy a scarf? I should open an Etsy store.)

zigzag scarf

Planning Ahead

Cooler weather is on the way, so I’ve decided to make Claire a winter hat. I’m trying to experiment more, and I found a pattern called a Ball-Band Toddler Hat. I used a larger needle to get the gauge right and the darn thing came out too large for her. It’s a bit small for an adult, but it would fit an older (grade-school age) child. The bigger needle also obscured the stitches a bit — they’re not as defined. This first attempt was on Cascade 220, a plain wool yarn; I’ll donate it to a charity. The hat for Claire will be on a different yarn, now that I know what I’m doing.

ball band hat 1
ball band hat 2

The New Homemaker

I’ve discovered a new blog and resource portal that will become a staple of my reading: The New Homemaker. I was doing research on the origin of “Susie Homemaker” (which I’ve not yet found because I wandered off into this new discovery). From the About page:

Who is the New Homemaker? She is the person who has discovered that having both partners in the work world is not “having it all.” Children, elders and the community have been sacrificed for two generations to the crazy notion that households can run themselves. Well, they can’t, and never have. Working parents have struggled valiantly to “have it all,” but are increasingly saying “we’ve had enough”; someone has to be home. Even single parents are exploring ways to spend more time at home and less at work, or to work at home.

Unexpectedly at home, the New Homemaker now finds herself completely unprepared to run that household, with few resources to turn to. Skills and knowledge housekeepers took for granted for centuries have been lost in just 50 years’ time. Traditional women’s magazines are filled not with solid homemaking advice and resources, but with diets, celebrity interviews, horoscopes, romance quizzes, career advice, fashion spreads and the like. Where help is available it’s frequently packaged with religious advice that may be appropriate for some women but hardly all, or even most.

I could print the entire manifesto here, but I won’t. You should read it, however. It speaks sense.

A Day’s Work

Peas, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and corn (with green beans soon to be pureed). I did this because I can’t find the variety of veggies I’d like to offer Claire in brand name baby foods, and actually, I think this might be cheaper! It wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined it would be.

a day's work

98.5

That’s the temperature right now and it’s only 2:45. Little Miss is not napping well today. But she’s cheerful for the most part. She has begun pulling up in earnest this week and uses me often as a climbing wall. The other day she pulled up using the ottoman; there’s a blanket with fringe that covers it. She grabbed a piece of fringe and held on, letting go with the other hand, and stood there! She wobbled and wavered, but she was unsupported by me. She looks very, very proud and happy when she pulls up successfully.

I swear, I do stuff around here, but at the day’s end it seems like nothing. Steaming and pureeing five kinds of vegetables and freezing them in ice cube trays doesn’t add up to much. Doing laundry and vacuuming isn’t that visible. Slicing bits of cantaloupe small enough so Claire can eat them without choking takes time but doesn’t have a big impact. Then there’s the 15 diaper changes in a day, plus the four bottle feedings and the three leisurely meals in a high chair. Then I get up and do much of it over the next day. It’s a good thing I don’t have to justify my work in order to keep a paycheck.

Darn, I could use a nap even if my sweet baby doesn’t!