I caught my little four-going on-fourteen year old pouting behind my bed today. If you could see the rest of her, there'd be tightly crossed arms and a deep scowl. This is her new thing lately, finding a place to go off in a huff of anger. I can't even remember what this was about this morning. Probably that I wouldn't give her a second piece of toast with nutella on it or something....But anyway she pulled out of her slump and we're all feeling much better now...
I, on the other hand, am not pouting because I've been blessed with two great packages of late. The first being my kid's CD swap from tracy and her girls.

She and I have decided to share the throne as "queens of procrastination" since we are both quite tardy on our swapping. Me being the tardiest of the two. But her package was definitely worth the wait. The music is phenomenal. I quickly took the CD with me on my errands while the girls were home napping with Dan. Much of the music (tho' not the artists) is new and I love it! love it. And of course, sweet tracy and her girls packed in some extra goodies. For me, it was a bunch of scrumptious linen and some cram-cream deco tape (which I have been eyeing on ebay). And for the girls it was the cutest little bags, stickers, a sunprint kit and a hopscotch kit. (We had a mean game of hopscotch in the driveway that night!) So a big thank you to tracy and her girls. We love/loved/are loving it all!

And I also received my package of gift tags from dacia's swap. they are all so lovely and unique. It is wonderful to see what everyone came up with. However, I took my picture of the tags outside on my porch, and just as I snapped the picture, one flew off the porch into a tall rose bush climbing up the steps. So the picture will have to wait until I retrieve the runaway tag. But they are all lovely. I promise.

Last night I finished Jeannette Walls's book, The Glass Castle. Wow, she is an amazing writer, but what a horrible life story. If the book hadn't been a true story of her life, I would definitely have put it down. It was one of those books that just left you feeling sick and gross in parts. Now, I'm picking up The Time Travellers Wife for next month's book group, although Dan is dying for me to start reading his pick for me: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry.

You'll probably notice some additions to my blog sidebars, too. I went back to the old format again. I've added a list of books that I have out of the library right now. This week's list includes some pottery books. After being 'excused' from the course work and going into the workshop, I'm starting to get a little insecure about my pottery knowledge. So I've been doing a little reading, which has turned out to be really inspiring and enjoyable.
I also added a list of books that the girl's are looking at. I told Emma we were going to learn about something this week, and it could be anything we wanted. Then, we'd get some library books out it. She chose flowers, and she's been carrying around that little field guide all week. Although I think she's impartial to small books since she brought a book up to me in the library last week and said, "can we try to find some more books that are this size?"
Speaking of books and children, I read something in Real Simple's Family special addition magazine this month that has me thinking. Some specialist on readding...(sorry, it's not in front of me right now) reccommended that as parents, we do not censor the things that our chidren read. If they want to pick up a book about Barney or Barbie, let them do it. As long as they are reading, it's all that matters. She says not to force the classics down their throats or try to dictate what they are or are not reading. Now, at first I could see her point, but the more I thought about it, the more I disagreed. I think it's a lot like television and the shows we allow our kids to watch. If you let your children watch junk, they are going to want to watch more and more of it. It's easy. It's completely catered to them and their little innocent minds. Somehow those television producers know exactly what hooks our children and it makes them only want to watch more--and if left to their own channel surfing kids would end up only watching the junk like Teletubbies and My Little Pony cartoons.
The same goes for reading, in my opinion. If I let them read every commercial character story that they picked off the shelf, and every book that doubles as a piano and songbook, I bet they'd never come back to Blueberries for Sal or Ferdinand the Bull.-with their beautifully simple pictures and classic storylines. So yes, I'm going to censor what they read, just like I censor what they watch. And I'll bet in the end they're no less voracious of a reader. And I hope they'll have a better appreciation for a timeless narrative, than a flashy piece of advertising disguised as literature.
phew. stepping down from my soap box. taking deep breath.

Last two quickies:
--a note about signing up for my email list. I get regular emails from people wondering when I'll have buttons and more pendants for sale. I try to keep a rag-tag list together, but it's pretty disorganized. So, if you're interested in any of these things, or just finding out when I update my etsy shop, please send me an email and I'll add you to the list. And if you've already contacted me, would you mind doing so one more time? Just so I can try to get it all in the same place. thanks.
--first batch of cuffs are in my etsy shop!