"honey, we're the big door prize"

as we watch the economy tank and prepare for the impending christmas season, hubs and i spend our weekend like every other family in america: comparison shopping for a big-screen tv. (?!?!?!)

following is the transcript of our actual conversation:

me: tell me again about option 1?

hubs: what you'll see is deeper blacks and a brighter contrast in color.

me: so if we're going to watch a lot of movies about rainbows and coal miners and malcolm x, that's really the clear way to go. by the way, i was just in Little's room, and i think she told me to "shake it downtown."

hubs: soooo, i take it you're not interested in the upgrade.

me: whadoyoumean. what's the price difference again?

hubs: 300 dollars.

me: (pause for reflection. picture the weight of $300 in fabric.)

hubs: have you ever seen high definition tv?

me: (dismissive laughter. pause to recall the last time i ran the tv gauntlet at an electronics store. decide it must have been at least three states ago.) maybe not.

hubs: okay. it's the difference between, oh, wow!, and WHOA!!! whereas that (points to our current humming, smudge-bespattered relic) is like, hmm? so, to recap, 300 dollars is the difference between oh, wow! and WHOA!!!

me: (pause for reflection. meanwhile, Little enters the room dancing.)

Little: shake-a-downtown-shake-a-downtown-shake-a-downtown-shake-a-downtown. mommy shake-a-downtown?

hubs: so, i take it from your reflection that you'd rather get the wow option and save 300 dollars.

me: (ever the killjoy, or, voice of reason) look at it not as saving 300, but as not spending 300 we don't have.

hubs: true. (retreats to his laptop for 10 minutes. then returns.)

hubs: just when i thought i had explored all the options...(truly, he had spent all of saturday absorbed in said activity)...i find a possibly fatal flaw.

me: the 42-inch is actually a cardboard box and a rabbit?

hubs: AND samsung has a comparable model that consumes half as much energy. for a couple hundred more.

me: well, that's important to me.

and so, to celebrate the birth of our savior, we contemplate spending ourselves speedily down to hell. but feel slightly justified because we're going green all the way.

new favorites

:: pandora online radio (so totally brill. we may never go silent again)

:: creek-lined hiking trails in san gabriel mountains (we went driving on sunday and found a fun new spot for our favorite outdoor activity: throwing rocks in the creek):

:: twin infant & toddler boys (thanks for playing with us, puentes!):

:: everyday bag from lotta jansdotter's simple sewing book. also, elephant fabric. (lauren, if you make this one, make the straps several inches longer so you can wear it over your shoulder):

:: super king market (cheap, cheap produce...mmm, pie heaven):


:: Little's finally finished school desk (i was going to embellish it with pages from a vintage child's book but i think i have decided i like it better plain. for now):

cheated

hot. tired. irritable. cheated out of lovely fall weather by a nasty, relentless, shine-you-out-of-your-foxhole, go-stick-yer-face-in-the-freezer and watch-too-much-tv sunshine. that's how most of today went. every precious autumn day in which i have to turn on my air conditioner is cause for bitter complaint. heat in october makes me want to throw up a little bit.

i did have my small consolations:

:: by my count, 10 new buds on the lemon tree
:: halloween cookies

:: air conditioning
:: Little in shades (top picture shows her preferred costume for watching snoopy in "it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown")

OH, ALSO, stupid vons (grocery store) is totally on my list for always being fresh out of whatever i ran there to get--with Little in tow, of course, who hates to be in the grocery store unless there is a lollipop in her mouth, and sometimes even then. i wouldn't even go to vons if it wasn't within walking distance. not that i ever walk there when it's hot. err! ERR!

cheating with Sneaky McSneakerson

someone got into the halloween goodies too early. and it wasn't me.
yes it was. but i had an accomplice.

the pudding days

ah, the pudding days. open windows, cool air, hot pudding on the stove and a project in hand as the wind blows up our napping skirts. so far we have everything but the wind.

for my conference weekend craft i chose embroidered pillows. that sounds so boring! i know it. but for some reason the spirit of pillows overtook me. since i can't change our couch right now, i can change the way it looks. plus i learned to make hundreds and hundreds of french knots! even more boring. except surprisingly...not.

Little helped glitter some halloween deco. got some glue on her belly:
an inevitable hazard of the craft.

i'll post the finished products as soon as i can get a decent picture of them. (timing is everything with a camera sans flash.)

two jameses discuss football

there are two poems i always think of in the fall. first, "Autumn Begins in Martin's Ferry, Ohio" by James Wright (left sidebar) because it's so memorable and lovely, if crushingly sad.

the other is this one by James Tate. i hope you like it as much as i do...maybe i should save it for november's poem, but i'm not going to.

and now, in honor of Little, who enjoys a good ham:

Young Man With a Ham

I'm watching him from my window. He's clutching
the ham as if it were a football everyone wants
to steal. He keeps looking over his shoulder and
stopping to make sure the ham is secure in his grip.
No one's on the street but him. But wait, old Mr. Wilson,
who lives down the street from me, has suddenly
appeared in his fedora and suspenders and is jogging
as best he can after the young man. I go out onto
the porch to watch. The young man has not yet seen
Mr. Wilson. Then in the last minute he spots him
and starts to run. To my great amazement, Mr. Wilson
dives through the air and tackles him. They wrestle
and grunt. Mr. Wilson wrenches the ham free, gets
away and starts racing down the street with the ham.
Clearly it's his ham now.

a reckoning

if you knew that i always clean up before i start taking pictures at home, would you think i'm a little ocd? really i'm not at all--i just like to give the impression that my house is always the state of bliss i imagine it could be. so i guess i am a little bit of a fraud. i'm just saying.

it's on account of all these inspirational blogs i read, which are all full of gorgeous photos wherein the beautiful red-cheeked children are chopping vegetables or collecting nuts and wildflowers like crazy little nymph-goblins and the mothers and fathers are industriously filling their homes with brilliant creations, while preparing meals using solely home grown produce. they--unlike me--seem to realize all their best ideas. and have energy to spare. i want to be like that!

so, this post is for those of you who left nice comments on my last post. i have nothing against accepting all kinds of flattery when it's deserved. but here's a little bit of what my house really looks like when i'm crafting away like a crafty craft-witch (or just bored of housework): piles everywhere. unswept corners and sticky juice counters. stained or uncovered couch cushions. a trail of Little leavings, including toys, torn books, bits of masticated food she was finished with, crayon nubs, pulverized cereal, and a general, not completely unpleasant, mosh of household cluster. *sigh*