I kind of missed the old blog, so, let’s try this again.

I’ve been trying to think why I don’t blog anymore, and figured there are so many social networks now, I felt I was repeating myself. My photos are on Flickr, my friends are on Facebook, my knitting is on Ravelry. Whenever I managed to think of more then 2 words to say about anything, I was interrupted by some almost-one-year-old (:-O) pulling at my pants.

So, let’s try this again. Probably with more photos this time, less talk.

Also, more knitting.

Things I’ve Done (In Bold)

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band – I played the drums, but not in a band. Unless Rock Band counts.
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis – In kindergarden. I was kind of fearless about bugs.
10. Sung a solo – which does not go well with the fact that I can’t carry a tune to save my life.
11. Bungee jumped - but I plan to (sorry Ruth )
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning – more times then I care to remember
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty – I walked half way because the top was closed. But I planned to.
18. Grown my own vegetables – strawberries are technically a fruit, but still.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill – many, many times.
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon - HA!
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke – see number 10. I was in the army, and a bit drunk..
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing - no, but I went deep-sea diving.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person – and was so impressed I just fell back on my ass while staring at the ceiling. I just sat there until the guard came to yell at me.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie – unless low budget student “productions” count.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason – which is a good thing, because I don’t like flowers.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving – but I want to.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp – don’t ask.
67. Bounced a check – my own or had someone else’s check bounce?
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square – but not in New-Year’s. Maybe next year.
74. Toured the Everglades - I don’t even know what the everglades are..
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book -  a book I illustrated was published, That sort of counts, doesn’t it?
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating – EWWW!
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant – but I rode a camel.

Go ahead, tag yourself!

I think I got my crafty mojo back. I couldn’t get my my mind to think of anything too creative since I was about 6 months pregnant, and now I’m kind of overflowing with ideas, which is kind of fun.

Making your own clothes and toys for your baby has quite a few benefits. I don’t know how it is in other countries, but over here it’s quite difficult to find nice, reasonably-priced clothes for boys that don’t have a picture of a sports-related activity, a HUGE logo or a misspelled English slogan. And they’re all blue and brown, and sometimes green, and that’s it. As for toys, I think it’s a dilemma that all parents (except maybe Tom Cruise) face – most toys lose their charm really fast, so you either decide not to spend too much on them and end up with a house full of cheap plastic crap, or buy a few, good toys and end up with a house full of expensive wooden crap

Making your own stuff gets you out of that loop. You can use recycled materials, you can cut up old clothes that you no longer use, you can have whatever colors and prints you want. And best of all? you don’t have to be really good at it, it gives you a huge sense of accomplishment, and many projects don’t take more than 30 minutes.

Seriously.

There are tons of ideas for making clothes and toys for babies, kids (and parents!) online. Many of them use something pre-made (like a coat, a t-shirt or a glove) as a base, so you really don’t have to work much and it’s ok if some of your seams are wonky or if you have no idea how to read a pattern. We’re not all super moms, and having a baby in the house seriously limits your crafting time and energy (unless you are one of those super moms, in which case please stop reading this blog and go home-school your kids or something).

Here are some ideas I found which are all based on an existing item , to get you started:

Easy kids pants – I’m completely addicted to this “pattern” for making pants from t-shirts and sweatshirts. It works with all kinds of fabric for summer or winter pants, makes a really good gift and takes only about half an hour. An excellent way to recycle old clothes into something you can actually give as a gift. All the pants and the vest in the photo above were made from 4 of our old sweatshirts that we don’t wear anymore.
Tip: instead of elastic, try using the stretchy fabric from the bottom of a sweatshirt.

Winter is here – sew an extention to your coat to make a babywearing coat (for back carrying) from a coat you already have, or knit a babywearing extention to your existing coat for front carrying.

Now that you have a babywearing coat, make your own baby carrier!

Make a chipmunk softy from an old glove.

Decorate your kid’s room with a paper cutting (no tutorials here, but lots of ideas).

Buy cheap, blank shirts (I haven’t found a good shirt tutorial yet) and decorate it with embroidery, applique, iron-on transfers or freezer paper stencils.

1. Go to the store. Purchase a small, fresh looking sweet potato.
2. Peel potato. Boil or steam until soft.
3. Mash the potato with a fork or food processor until no chunks remain. Add water if necessary. Place in a small bowl and wait for it to chill.
4. Put baby in chair. Tie an apron around baby’s neck. Feed baby the mashed potato.
5. Take photos.
6. Send SMSs to grandmas, grandpas, uncles, and your best friend informing them of the event. Feel free to use the following template: “(Baby’s name here) ate potato. He liked it. Yey!”.
7. Download photos to your computer. Upload to Flickr.
8. Change your Facebook status to “Baby now eats solid food”.
9. Twitter the good news to the world.
10. Blog it.

Also, do people in the USA really say “like” every second word?

Last Sunday we got back from 4 days in Prague. We walked around the city, took a tour on a Segway, and saw Leonard Cohen’s show. We had a great time.

I’ve been thinking what to write about it for the last week, and all I could come up with was WE DID IT. We f*cking DID IT. I’ve been talking about going to see Leonard Cohen since I was pregnant, and we actually packed our bags and our 5-months-old and we went ahead and did it and it was better then I imagined. We’re officially out of the ocean of diapers, milk and toys. We managed, with a baby, on a plane, in a foreign country with no changing tables anywhere (what is it with the Czech nation and changing tables?), and lived to tell the tale.

And yes, I am patting myself on the back now.

… but he will still only go to sleep with his 100% polyester, made in china bunny.

Oh, and if anyone had any success at making the Ravelry progress bars work, please let me know..

I packed them all up, and put them out in the street in the nice green trash can. Except the stickers, which I’m sending to my nieces.

Now, instead of a pile of trash, I have a lovely empty space. So much more potential, so much easier to pack when we finally move in a year or so.

I have my brother in law Gilad to thank for this – he was here for about a month a little after Toam was born, and when we got tired of watching him hang around our living room doing nothing, we made him do housework. (you can read his lament here. Also, read the rest of his blog. He travels in the far east now, and is a wicked good writer).

Anyway, we asked him to clean out our porch, and being the slightly OCD person that he is he took it quite literally and threw out a ton of stuff. At first I was really angry, ecause it was MY STUFF, but then Gilad told me that there’s no way that I’m going to misss any of it because I had no idea what was there in the first place. And he was right. It’s been 3 months, and I still don’t have a clue what he threw away. Guess I didn’t need it after all.

So, I challenge you, readers, to throw something out. It might not be the most popular advice in these ecological days, but being ecological to your spirit is a good thing too. Go ahead. Take that frame that’s been lying there since your wedding, which you are NEVER going to touch, and just toss it out. Someone will use it.

And just so you won’t think there’s no recycling at all going on here..

I made pants!

Inspiration came from Tamar’s boxer-shorts pants, the pattern is absurdly easy, it took less then half an hour, and they’re the coolest pants in the world. I’m never buying another pair of baby pants ever again.

Next on my list is a shirt, from this t-shirt to newborn gown pattern. Which I’m obviously going to have to enlarge, to fit little Chubby McChub.