1. Child pulls out the legos (butterfly horse stance)
2. Mom helps build a castle (kneeling horse stance)
3. Mom lunges to grab cell phone (side to side with mantis hook)
4. Mom cleans up the toys (duck walk back and forth 3 times)
5. Mom sweeps the floor (deep lady horse stance across the floor)
An old bag of modeling clay resurfaced this morning and when I was picking up the remnants I realized that it makes a great stress-ball. Then, when I was trying to get a half-decent photo, some more clay did the trick! (right side blob)
Ok, I'm walking away from the computer right now...
As any parent will tell you, having kids + a bathtub = A plethora of little cute plastic bath toys. After searching high and low for a good way to store everything, I had an epiphany when I was cleaning out some old files. I grabbed a terrycloth bathmat, folded it so it fit in the bottom of the crate-
Yay! Instant tub-toy caddy! 
The reason I was so picky is that so many of the "official" types of tub-toy caddies rely on suction cups, which any half-way intrepid toddler is just going to pull off, and/or contained little nooks and crannies which are a haven for mold.
It's snowing/sleeting/raining today and I did manage to get out and clear my car off in time to move it so my space can get plowed out. So I feel like I got at least something constructive done today.
BTW, when I ventured out, I was the first one to do so, and the stairs needed cleaning off too. I was already carrying some laundry so I simply started moving the fast accumulating snow off the steps with my feet. It occured to me as I was doing so that it made a good kung fu exercise, kind of like a sweeping kick drill. I started trying to get as much snow off each one step as I could with one kick.
Then, moving on to the car, I kept it going as I used my snowscraper like a broadsword and tried to challenge myself with how much heavy wet snow I could push off the roof with each stroke. First with one hand, then both hands. 
You could probably practice some more form moves with other snow-removal implements, but it's a start.
So I finally poked my head out of my inbox and found out that John Updike has died. He was the same age my grandfather was when he died. It was strange growing up going to church with my dad and stepmom at the same church that Updike was (nominally) a member of. He manned the booksale table one year at the annual church fair. I bought a copy of "The Omen" from him for a quarter. I remember that he took a good skeptical look at the cheesy mid-eighties foil-embossed paperback cover and then looked at me and said "You sure you really want this one?". I was old enough to recognize him from some book jackets I had seen, but young enough to be saucy so I shrugged and said "Yeah, it looks really scary!" He took my quarter and sent me on my way.
Buddha guides the lions to eat
The lion approaches an offering
Some businesses like to challenge the lion a little
After eating the lion dances to show their thanks
See some Lion Dancers in action!
The Peabody Essex Museum will be celebrating the Year Of The Ox in style with a martial arts demo on January 30th (Friday night) in the Atrium at 7:30. There will also be Lion Dancing and Kung Fu at 11:30am Saturday the 30th. Free to Salem residents! BYOFC
My daughter goes through a ton of different types of paint in the average week and she's also taken to painting wherever the "mood" strikes her. I finally got tired of constantly following her around like a human paint caddy, schlepping tiny bottles and brushes all over the place and then I realized that a recently retired plastic inbox could hold everything, water, paints and brushes. So, the inbox-paint caddy was born.
-But you already knew that right?
Salem Main Streets will be hosting a chocolate and ice sculpture festival February 6-14!
$20 gets you in the door of the kick-off event at Hamilton Hall on Friday, Feb. 6 at 6:30pm. The event features wine, chocolate and coffee samplings from Salem purveyors.
Lots of stores will be having special Valentine deals and sales as well. The SMS site has the full details.
From now until the end of January, Seed Stitch Fine Yarn at 21 Front Street in Salem is having a sale with 20-70% off yarns of all types. They will be open from 10am to 7pm and (I think) until 8pm on Thursdays. Support a local business (and your knitting habit) and check it out!
(they are very toddler-tolerant too!)
I don't think I've been this verklempt ever. What a great day. And props to the Marine band for their restraint shown by NOT playing "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" as Dick Cheney was wheeled to his waiting limousine.
(rumor has it he pulled a muscle stretching the truth too far)
One of the ways that my local Market Basket keeps me coming back for more punishment is the occasional awesome bargain find. Sometimes, it's Nutella at 2 for $4 when the Whole Paycheck price hovers around $5 a jar. This past week, it's the Good Earth coffee which I found for $4.99 for a 10 oz. bag.
And here's the kicker; it actually tastes like coffee, good coffee. Their website doesn't say anything about their labor situation, just stresses the fact that their coffee is raised in organic conditions. I have to confess that I've bought Fair Trade coffee in the past for a good price at BJ's and while it made for guilt-free caffeination, it tasted kind of sour. Still, you could always use it for recipes or composting.
For all of you that received homemade cookies in those ubiquitous tins for the holidays, ReadyMade has a great article about how you can use them to create tiered serving trays, ribbon dispensers and cookie cutters.
It's a cookbook! A COOKBOOK!
Trapped by snow and ice (plus my husband had to borrow my car), I couldn't watch any more "Blue's Clues" so I ventured out with Chloe in her stroller to the Art And Nature Room at the PEM. Chloe loved to empty the activity boxes, not necessarily playing with everything, just likes to do inventory, and while I waited for her to get bored, my eye happened across "Man Eating Bugs" on the bookshelf. Finally, a cookbook that will scare away any potential schnorrer who sees it on your recipe shelf.
Found at the SPL this week, Roald Dahl's "The Mildenhall Treasure" illustrated by Ralph Steadman. (Which,BTW is listed on Roalddahl.com as an ADULT book so now I don't have to pretend I'm checking it out "for my kid").
At any rate, I love finds like this; half-remembered stories that trigger Proust-like reactions when I pull them off the shelf.
