Hode de door!

This one is funny. I thieved it from dooce.com and I justify this thievery because people have actually told me that they never go to read dooce.com.

???

I think she’s funny and she usually makes me laugh. Also I enjoy her sense of design. In any case, here’s the Aunt Jemima! video she posted. It’s long (3:46 min), but you won’t regret it.

 

Cooler than Freecycle

I am in the middle of my first freecycle.org transaction, and I’m loving it. Basically, freecycle is a bulletin board for people in a community to give and get FREE THINGS. While, I love the word FREE, I love more that I can post something of mine and have people immediately jump up and say, “Me!, Me! I want it and I’ll come to your house and take it away!”

Yesterday I posted Bella’s old cow dresser (from my sister-in-law Lisa), via a google page – I created a google page; one, to see if was as easy as they say, and two, to draw a cybernetic line between my blog, photo accounts, and my more “public” transactions. Check out my first google page here. I think I’ll keep it just for the purpose of posting freecycle things.

It was a pretty easy process; I had to have a yahoo account and go through a brief registration process, which included explaining who I am and why I want to be part of the freecycle group. Then I submitted my OFFER to the moderator (100% volunteer-run), who had my offer posted within an hour. The same day, I had four emails from interested parties – I am giving the first lady another day to figure out how to pick it up, otherwise it will go to the next person, who says he can pick the dresser up immediately.

But today, I signed up for something even cooler than freecycle – something GREAT!

That’s COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE through South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano.

Basically I signed up to get 25# of 100% organic, mostly locally grown produce every other week until December for $30 ($220 total). I pick up my basket of produce every other Wednesday at somebody else’s house only five minutes from my own. This week’s basket included: 2 heads of lettuce (one red, one green), melons, leeks, onions, apples, kale, grapes, nectarines, oranges, tomatoes, squash, green beans, cucumbers, and basil.

!!!

I have the option of getting a basket every week and/or increasing the size of the basket to 35# for $37, but I’m starting cautiously. I wouldn’t want to be throwing away a bunch of organic produce, especially since I don’t have a worm box set up yet.

I remember reading an essay by Barbara Kingsolver, where she was trying to reduce her environmental impact – and when she started investigating the fuel costs of buying food (and water!) shipped to the grocery store from other countries, she realized that the single most dramatic thing she could do to reduce her family’s carbon footprint was to eat locally grown food as much as possible. Now I keep hearing people raving about her newest book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is all about her family’s food odyssey. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s on my list. In fact, this book comes so highly recommended that when I asked my friend who works within the CSA community for website tips, she directed me to Kingsolver’s animalvegetablemiracle.com website for more information.

I read about the local CSA in the OC Weekly (Issue #46) – and I understand that Tanaka Farms and Morning Song Farm also have CSA programs.

How great do I feel?!

I have just secured organic produce for my family for the rest of the year and I’m supporting local farmers. Talk about a win-win.

 

 

Bridal Shower/Bacholerette Party Pics

These photos go with this post and were taken by Wanda.

This is what the tables looked like when I got there. I love fresh flowers.

And my friends drinking in the shade of a boulder. (Notice the gifts to my right? I got some terrific gifts!)

Here we’re walking over to the reception site.

Wanda made me that turquoise necklace.

My very first tortoise scat.

And that’s me having bagels and lox the next morning – you can see part of Caryn’s body brewing fresh coffee in front of the campstove.

Perfect party.

 

A Great Use of Craigslist

My brother recently posted this ad on craigslist:

“will trade excel lessons for how to create a web site lessons (north beach / telegraph hill)

---

Reply to: sale-389518984@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-08-04, 5:54PM PDThi,

i’m helping with my high school reunion and we’d like to put up a simple website that probably only has two screens 1) reunion details (location, cost, etc), and 2) list of classmates we don’t have contact info for. i need help setting it up and learning how to update it on my own. would be helpful if you had a computer or else we could go to an internet cafe.

i can teach you excel or help you do anything you want to with excel, e.g. create a budget, database, etc. open to other suggestions, e.g. i could go running with your dog on the weekends if you have one, give you a ride to airport, etc.

thanks.”

The very next day, he got this response:

“Songbae,

I am interested in databases, creating budgets, formulas?
I think that google pages would work beautifully for your project, and its free.
When would you like to start?

XXXXX”

How cool is that?

I didn’t have much occasion to use craigslist while I lived in Joshua Tree – but now that I am in south OC, there are zillions of people using craigslist all around me!

I especially like that Songbae offered to run with the person’s dog on weekends. When I was living in Montreal twenty years ago and training for the Marine Corps marathon, I borrowed my friend Richard’s dog, Elgin, for regular runs up Mount Royal. I felt safer and she got great exercise. Hmmm, that may be something to pursue again – except that I feel pretty safe running with my husband, in south OC…

 

How'd he do that?!

Watch a man be cut in half, stapled back together, and then get back up dancing. No blood involved – but may upset younger children.

It’ll only take 1:20 minutes of your time. (Thanks for sharing this one, Al!)

 

How’d he do that?!

Watch a man be cut in half, stapled back together, and then get back up dancing. No blood involved – but may upset younger children.

It’ll only take 1:20 minutes of your time. (Thanks for sharing this one, Al!)

 

Shagging!

The jetlag sabotaged my sleep today; I unwittingly fell asleep for three hours on the sofa and now I’m not tired.

Bella and I did get to watch the first half of a fun movie (on videotape! thanks Karen – I’ll get it back to you soon!) called Shag (1989). See, this is the kind of movie that I love watching with my kid; lots of dancing and relatively clean: a no-brainer. Even without having finished it, I would give it a B, but it only got a 5.2/10.0 at imdb. It’s fun too, to see actresses like Bridget Fonda and Phoebe Cates from almost twenty years ago.

Then when I was posting Mattias’ video, I came across this little 4-minute clip of the finals of a Lindy Hop competition. Each couple dances only for 20 seconds, so you really get to check out a variety of dancing styles. I had no idea that Lindy Hop had so much swagger and sass!

 

I think we could solve a lot of this world’s problems if we could give everybody a baby to hold. Maybe it would only take one or two babies per household, because a baby actually radiates enough love to enfold more than just his/her parents.

Noi Na is doing her thing; being totally lovable and needing constant attention – we are all reaping the benefits of being parent-like.

Songbae is watching the first episode of Heroes (to catch up to us), Sue is in the bedroom nursing, and Joss is in the kitchen steaming veggies to go with the salmon teriyaki. Tomorrow is my last day.

I made quite a pile of good memories on this trip.

The labor and birth was something else.
Did I mention that Sue is a hero?