Tuesday 31 July 2007

Links for 2007-07-27 to 30 [del.icio.us]

Friday 27 July 2007

Links for 2007-07-25 & 26 [del.icio.us]

I've been slowly catching up with my backlog of links (they're showing up in the past here because they're automatically generated posts that I edit a bit so they're all backdated). Meanwhile a new backlog is building and I haven't been good about blogging about what I'm actually doing.

This has not a little to do with the death of a friend which I mentioned in a previous post. I feel as though I'm doing so little to help, but even what I am doing (mostly relaying email messages) seems to be taking up most of the writing time that I have at the moment. As usual I am very behind on household tasks. (Sigh.)

Tomorrow I'm going to be cooking lots of food for the potluck lunch at the memorial celebration. (Well, I will assuming my delightful daughter co-operates. It seems she's often happy to amuse herself in the corner of the room until I'm actually trying to get stuff done and then she NEEDS me. Oh well, that's the way it goes! Hopefully my husband will be able to look after her for a lot of the day.)

I'm actually in a bit of a cooking phase at the moment. Have been for a while actually, I think it's partly where my need to be creative finds an outlet in these days when I have no opportunities to get into my sewing room (I have been knitting too, even have some finished objects I should blog about sometime). Now with grief and the desire to do something to help (even if that's only providing comfort food for us) on top of general frustrated creativity the cooking's necessary. The other day I made a cake even though we still had leftover birthday cake to finish and at the best of times cakes tend to end up moldy in our house (we enjoy them and then forget about them before they're gone, I don't know how we manage this). It came out very nicely.

It's a banana bread recipe I hadn't tried before, I came across it drifting around the internet (as I do in all the spare time I don't have) at Orangette, it's got coconut and rum in it plus I added chocolate chips because I can't let well enough alone! It's very tasty.

Also I'm entering a bread making phase I think. I have them now and then. Someone got me The Bread Bible a while back and I haven't used it much since for various reasons. I've been starting to itch to make bread again so for one of the parties we had for my daughter's birthday I made the cheddar loaf (very tasty) and some crumpets (slightly disappointing but I have some ideas about how to do better next time). I also made a sandwich loaf a few days ago which came out so-so, it tastes yeasty and I'm thinking I let it go too much in at least one of the risings. It's good toasted with butter and marmite though.

Tuesday 24 July 2007

Links for 2007-07-23 [del.icio.us]
  • Everlasting Bagstopper - Knitty: Spring 2007
  • Baklava Loaf | Baking Bites
  • Parent's survival guide: How to entertain a brood of bored kids during the summer holidays - Independent
  • Jemima Lewis: You can't beat a traditional liberal education - Independent
    "I am seized with jealousy of my husband, who had the closest thing to an old- fashioned liberal education that money can buy. He learnt Latin and Greek at eight, speaks fluent French, knows the Old Testament backwards and can still recite the Periodic Table. Life skills come easily to him because the basics are already there: if you can do Latin grammar, you can learn new languages in a jiffy; if you understand physics, you can (and will) wire up a digital surround-sound home entertainment system."
  • Andrew Franklin: The real reason why publishers miss good books - Independent
  • Jemima Lewis: We've created a genealogical nightmare - Independent
  • MOO | Stickers - Print stickers using your images
    seen at howaboutorange
  • Sock it to me!
    "[Mezzodiva] decided to self-publish [her] Campanula sock pattern (...) and offer it here for a nominal charge: To get the pattern, all you have to do is CLICK HERE and SPONSOR [HER] for the 2007 Weekend to End Breast Cancer."
  • nonaKnits: Sidewinders: The Prologue
    links at end of each post to the next until you've knit yourself a sock, sideways!
  • Apron/Sunbonnet Combination - April 2001 Free Monthly Project
    Saw an example of this pattern made up at flickr it's an intriguing idea; a garment that can be worn as an apron or a bonnet!
  • Sunday 22 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-20 & 21[del.icio.us]

  • joybucket: Peek-a-Boo Bunting Tutorial
    found via Craftzine, a tutorial for a baby quilt that attaches to a stroller so the baby can't kick it off. Excellent idea!
  • Mandela turns 89 and launches 'a robust force for good' | Guardian Unlimited
    Nelson Mandela marked his 89th birthday today with the launch of a group of world-renowned leaders who plan to use several Nobel peace prizes and "almost 1,000 years of collective experience" to tackle global crises that governments are unable or unwilling to confront."
    Using their collective experience, their moral courage and their ability to rise above nation, race and creed, they can make our planet a more peaceful and equitable place to live," said the former South African president.
  • perfect pikelets ~ My Way or the Highway » Wear it. Eat it. Deny you are responsible.
    Mmmm, pikelets.
  • By request. on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
    A great knitted top (cardigan/jacket) seen at flickr. I think this would make a great garment for a nursing mother -- may need to make myself one!
  • Your Gamete, Myself - Egg Donation - Reproduction - In Vitro Fertilization - Infertility - Women - Peggy Orenstein - New York Times
    An interesting look at the implications of egg donation.
  • Magazine Box Tutorial - a photoset on Flickr
    found via Craft
  • Snicket Socks - MagKnits, your friendly online knitting magazine
    "These socks were inspired by the dress Violet Baudelaire (Emily Browning) wears in the movie Lemony Snicket – A Series of Unfortunate Events. I wanted to translate the net-like sleeves into knitting.
  • BBC NEWS | From Our Own Correspondent | Losing the taste for China's delicacies
  • BBC NEWS | Health | Healthy weight link to longevity
    "Keeping a healthy weight may help people live longer by limiting brain exposure to insulin, say US scientists."
  • Celtic Braid Socks: Tuulian omia juttuja:
    Another sock pattern, this one with a nice celtic looking cable pattern
  • Black Dog Designs
    A collection of knitting patterns from the blogger of the blog Black Dog Knits
    . Quite a few I would like to try sometime, probably going to stick with the socks for now (and there are several sock patterns that caught my fancy there.
  • Shetland Lace Rib Sock Pattern: Stitches of Violet
    And, yes, another knitting pattern for socks!
  • What's New

    I've not even been manage to keep up with editing and posting my links this last week or so. Firstly there was my daughter's first birthday so I was baking cakes and preparing other party food (for two parties no less, one with friends near home and one with my husband's family at his parents' house).

    Then last Sunday we got a call to tell us that a dear, wonderful friend had died that morning. It was such a shock to us, we knew she had had some health problems but had no idea that this was coming. Although I can't jump in the car and go help out with her little ones or do errands I have been spending more time than usual on the phone (I hate the phone) and emailing people announcements and updates and so on in an effort to do something helpful. My daughter has started having play phone conversations, and is more than ever determined to help me type and steal my mouse (I have one with a tracking ball thing, she likes to take the ball out and roll it along the floor, then pull down the mouse and stand on the buttons). I think she's looking forward to things settling down a bit.

    I have been keeping up with writing my 10 things (as I talked about a couple of weeks ago now) most nights before heading for bed. Sometimes when something so sad happens finding those 10 things can actually be easier. Certainly it has brought home once again how lucky my husband and I are to be part of a wonderful community of singers. They sent cards and email and sang and brought food to our first daughter's memorial service just over two years ago and sustained us through those hard times. Now we can be part of the community helping our friends husband and two small children as best we can.

    Amidst all of this I have another thing to add to my things to do. Another thing I came across at happythings blog in fact, her Year of Color group. I noticed it a little while ago, but the year was almost up. However she's just launched A Year of Color 2 (a flickr group) so I decided to join in. It's about time I remember to take pictures of things other than my daughter a little more often!
    The first week just ended, and being rather preoccupied this week I just snuck my pictures in rather late in the day. Technically it's Sunday, but I still think of it as being Saturday still because I haven't gone to bed yet, and she didn't post colours for week 2 yet so hopefully I'm alright. For A Year of Color 2 "we will enjoy photos focusing on a DIFFERENT COLOR COMBINATION every week for a year." The colours for Week 1 are pink+green. Here are my pictures:

    The first is a lone flower fallen on the side of the path which I noticed when walking home from the store the other day. I don't know where it came from, somebody carrying flowers home perhaps since there were none growing anywhere near that I could see.

    The second picture I took the other evening sitting on the couch knitting. I'd pulled up a prayer shawl I'm knitting for our church's prayer shawl ministry. I haven't worked on it in ages but have felt drawn to this week. Caught on it somewhere was this yarn end from knitting soakers for my daughter. There it was on my green stripey pajama trousers.

    I think I'm going to enjoy this project!

    Friday 20 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-19 [del.icio.us]

    Wednesday 18 July 2007


    • The authors every teenager should read - Independent
      I'm not sure I agree with how they've classified some of the authors. Still, lots of people I haven't read (or even heard of) so lots of ideas for my overflowing booklist!

    • Instructables The Book Apron
      "Keeps your cookbooks or other how-tos clean! Clear plastic, polyester ribbon and rickrack can be wiped clean of batter with a damp sponge."
      I definitely need one of these for cooking (also a good book stand) since I'm plenty messy in the kitchen.

    • Instructables : Green" Re-usable Grocery Bags
      "These re-usable grocery bags will help you answer the question "Paper or plastic?" from your grocer, and help save waste and those landfill stuffers you're accumulating. The bags have handles to allow them to be placed on a grocer's plastic bag holder, i
      I like the idea of being able to slip them onto the bag holders in the grocery store (although I don't think that the place I shop at most often has bag holders... maybe I just never used them because I always have my own bags there).

    • morsbags sociable guerilla bagging
      I love the idea of guerrilla bagging as a means to reduce the use of plastic bags, not sure I have the right personality for it though. I'm loving all these tutorials and patterns for making bags I've been coming across though because more bags are always useful in my opinion!

    • Instructables Sewing Organizer
      "This is a great organizer for any tailor/seamstress and also it's kind of an art on the wall."
      I've seen something like this on a blog somewhere before (blanking on where right now), a wall mounted spool holder. This one's extra fancy with places to store other bits and bobs. too.

    Tuesday 17 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-16 [del.icio.us]

    Monday 16 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-15 &14 [del.icio.us]

    Saturday 14 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-13 [del.icio.us]
    • Psychology Today: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
      I saw the link at the new mom blog
      "Human behavior is a product both of our innate human nature and of our individual experience and environment. In this article, however, we emphasize biological influences on human behavior, because most social scientists explain human behavior as if evolution stops at the neck and as if our behavior is a product almost entirely of environment and socialization. In contrast, evolutionary psychologists see human nature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operate beneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival and reproduction by predisposing us to think or feel in certain ways."
    • Blossom dress on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
      While looking at knitting pictures on Flickr I saw this incarnation of a Magknits pattern I'd thought of knitting in the past and forgotten all about. It's a cute wrap dress/top for infants. The sizes only go up to 6-9 months and my daughter's one now but perhaps if I fiddle with the gauge or something I can make one that would still fit her.
    • Humpty Dumpty falls from favour - Times Online
      "now the traditional nursery rhyme, in all its gruesome, bloody detail, is in danger of dropping out of modern culture. A survey suggests that 40 per cent of parents with young children cannot recite a single popular rhyme all the way through."
      While I'm not always reciting or singing nursery rhymes to my daughter my husband and I can certainly remember plenty. Actually, when reading through Mother Goose we found we knew extra bits for some I seem to remember! I know my mum sings nursery rhymes to my little girl while she's here too. Of course we're fans of traditional music, crafts etc. around here so that's not entirely surprising.
    • Raspberry chocolate verrine - vegalicious -delicious vegan food and more
      Chocolate and Raspberry, how can you go wrong?
    • How Prevalent Are Antibiotics In Organic Foods? Scientific Blogging
    • An article reporting on a study looking at plant uptake of antibiotics.
      "Plant uptake was evaluated in a greenhouse study involving three food crops: corn, lettuce, and potato. Plants were grown on soil modified with liquid hog manure containing Sulfamethazine, a commonly used veterinary antibiotic. This antibiotic was taken up by all three crops. Concentrations of antibiotics were found in the plant leaves. Concentrations in plant tissue also increased as the amount of antibiotics present in the manure increased. It also diffused into potato tubers, which suggests that root crops, such as potatoes, carrots, and radishes, that directly come in contact with soil may be particularly vulnerable to antibiotic contamination."
      And because organic crops use manure for fertilizer this raises potential problems for organic foods.

    Friday 13 July 2007

    • Dominic Lawson: From Pentecost island to modern Britain, the futility of trying to measure happiness - Independent
      "Nobody has yet come up with an entirely satisfactory definition of what constitutes happiness - although I think that Sydney Smith's "To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence" will do to be getting along with. A state of unhappiness could be described as the opposite of that, but we might also define it as a life whose reality falls far short of its owner's expectations.

      That is perhaps at the heart of the modern malaise, which has resulted in an unprecedented growth in clinical depression in countries such as the USA and the UK. We have increasingly allowed ourselves to think that happiness is ours by right - it's written into the American constitution - whereas in fact we can't find it: it finds us."

    • Knitting Pattern Central - Free Pattern - Amy Doll
      Cute pattern I saw in a post on knitting dolls at V's blog, (you have to go look at the knees!).
    • Dismay and anger as Pope declares Protestants cannot have churches | Guardian
      "Protestant churches yesterday reacted with dismay to a new declaration approved by Pope Benedict XVI insisting they were mere "ecclesial communities" and their ministers effectively phonies with no right to give communion.
      "Coming just four days after the reinstatement of the Latin mass, yesterday's document left no doubt about the Pope's eagerness to back traditional Roman Catholic practices and attitudes, even at the expense of causing offence."
    • Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan - New York Times
      "The pitfalls of the modern family meal are well chronicled: the varying schedules, the demanding diets (low carb, no wheat, no meat) and the fact that all too often the dinner so proudly displayed is greeted by a cheerful “Oh, that looks disgusting.” For most working parents, even a 30-minute meal seems like a June Cleaver-era indulgence. By the time I walk in the door at 7:30 my children are off-the-wall hungry, even having had snacks. Ideally, dinner will take 15 minutes or less to put on the table.

      "But despite the challenges, I tell you it can be done. I committed to cooking a family meal when my first son was born, in 1997, not because of any psychology study about the well-being of children, but because it gave me comfort.

      "Every working mother has to draw the line somewhere. Maybe my children would take their first steps with a babysitter, or perform in school plays with only their grandparents in attendance. But mom would cook their dinners."

      I stay home with one child and still have trouble getting dinner "on the table" (dining room table is currently inaccessible) at a reasonable hour, so glad a I don't have to work full time outside the home, commute and then make dinner.
    • Sarah Churchwell: Why can't British students write like Americans? - Independent
      "An impoverished understanding of their own language combined with an inflated sense of their own talents doesn't merely result in smug graduates with a beggared ability to express ideas. Sophisticated ideas cannot flourish in a linguistic vacuum. Expression and thought are inextricably linked: crude language permits only crude thinking. It's bad enough that these university students can't communicate their thoughts intelligibly; but those thoughts are themselves constrained by embryonic language skills."
      This is a great article. I still feel as though I really need to go back to school and take English Language classes. We did have some grammar "lessons" at middle school (we had a text book there was time set aside to work through). I would say my vocabulary is not too shabby, but my grasp of how the language works is not so good. And I have a degree in Women's Studies and English Literature! When I spent a year at college in the US one of my professors took me aside and asked if I thought I might be dyslexic because of my bad use of punctuation, I said no I just never really learned how a semi colon is supposed to work (and I am queen of the run-on sentence). I am better than I used to be, but have a long way to go and (besides blogging) not much space for working on my writing skills. I really wish we had been taught more at school. At least my primary schools taught handwriting, I think it's so sad that that doesn't happen so much any more.
    • The Knitting Circle Shows Its Chic - New York Times
      "Formerly neglected domestic arts like knitting, quilting, sewing and embroidery are being eagerly embraced, especially by the young. Their passion kindled by the abundance of handcrafted looks on the runways, they are blowing the dust off these folksy skills and lending them the bright sheen of style.
      "“It wasn’t that long ago that people would cringe at the word ‘craft,’ ” said Melanie Falick, who developed a crafts imprint at Stewart, Tabori & Chang. “Ten or 20 years ago, there were far fewer crafters and knitters, certainly fewer who ‘outed’ themselves. Now it has become a badge of honor.”
      "And an insignia of chic. The new generation of needle hobbyists, nimble-fingered women in their 20s and 30s, is growing ever more sophisticated, seeking out novel yarns imbued with bamboo or fur, working confidently with elaborate patterns, swapping tips online and emulating styles by fashion designers like Marc Jacobs, Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga and Michael Kors."
    • The World’s Best Candy Bars? English, of Course - New York Times
      "it would be easy to take a long, clichéd side trip into a discussion of the relative inferiority of British food. But for the rarefied palate that can appreciate the soft, immediate pleasure of an inexpensive candy bar, it's not difficult to give the edge to sweets from the realm of the queen."
      I'm totally biased on this subject of course, growing up with the sweets in England and then moving to the USA where I can be very dissatisfied with the candy on offer over here and wallow in nostalgia thinking about my favourite sweet things that I can't get here. Of course I can find good dark chocolate here (organic and fair trade and mighty tasty) so that keeps me happy mostly. When we visit England I come back with Cadbury's milk chocolate and licorice allsorts for me, and sherbert lemons and kendal mint cake for my husband. My husband is very distressed at the change to natural flavourings and no longer hoards fruit pastilles. The thing I miss most even when I'm back in the UK is the sweet shops with shelves of sweets in jars that were weighed and put into paper bags (cinder toffee, rhubarb&custard, cough candy, bon bons), and the case of penny sweets where I spent my pocket money as a small child (shrimps, bananas, flying saucers, the cigarette and pipe sweets that I loved but which never made me remotely interested in smoking). Sigh.
    • Digital Cameras: The Top 10 Things You Need to Know - Unbiased reviews, prices, and advice from DigitalCamera-HQ
      Seen in a list of links at Not Martha, looks like a useful list to hold onto. Also love the link to the discussion how many is a few? as my husband holds very strong opinions on this subject.
    • Organic Farming Can Feed The World, Says Study | Scientific Blogging
      "Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as conventional farming on the same amount of land---according to new findings which refute the long-standing assumption that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population."

    Thursday 12 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-11 [del.icio.us]
    • Easy Grocery Bag Shopping Tote From 2 Pillowcases - Instructables
      I wonder whether these would be sturdy enough in the long term for heavy groceries. Fun tutorial, and of course you could use the tote for lighter groceries, or other stuff!
    • Easy as ABC: Asian-style Baby Carrier or Mei Tai - Instructables
      There are quite a few good online tutorials for making an ABC which I've read and taken direction from already. However, since I like to read as many as possible and then use all I learn to figure out how to make mine I'm adding this to my collection of bookmarks!
    • The healthy heart guide - Independent
      " Heart attacks are our biggest killer – yet many are preventable. Julia Stuart on the simple changes that could save your life"
    • Move to cut methane emissions by changing cows' diet | Climate change | Guardian
      "Experts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth say the diet of farmed animals can be changed to make them produce less methane, a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Farmed ruminant animals are thought to
    • UK needs a two-child limit, says population report | SocietyGuardian.co.uk
      "While most of Britain's annual population rise of nearly 300,000 people is from immigration, only 21.9% of new births were last year to non-UK born mothers, says Prof Guillebaud. Each woman in England and Wales, he says, can now be expected to have 1.87 children, the highest total fertility rate for 26 years."
      Not sure I entirely agree with the logic of this article. I'm not sure it's getting to the root of the problem it brings up of the level of consumption of the earth's resources (really we need to work on that as much as human population). (Not to mention addressing the need to care for the older generation that would presumably become more of a problem than the baby boomers.)
    • "Is the weather raining on your holiday parade? The Far from the Sodding Crowd team come to the rescue with their pick of humorous, curious and downright ludicrous British tourist attractions"
    • The yuck factor: How scientific research into revulsion is shaping our supermarkets - Independent
      "Rozin's research says that if something we perceive to be dirty or disgusting (such as a cockroach) touches something harmless (such as orange juice), in our minds the latter becomes "contaminated", even if the rational side of our brain knows there is n
    • The Health Benefits of Journaling - Psych Central
      "There is increasing evidence to support the notion that journaling has a positive impact on physical well-being. University of Texas at Austin psychologist and researcher James Pennebaker contends that regular journaling strengthens immune cells, called T-lymphocytes. Other research indicates that journaling decreases the symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Pennebaker believes that writing about stressful events helps you come to terms with them, thus reducing the impact of these stressors on your physical health."
    • Wake up. Feminism is more than just capitalism with tits | Guardian
      "Enough of the numbers game. The issue is not how many women are in power, but how many fight for collective rights "

    Wednesday 11 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-10 [del.icio.us]
    • Fish oil may save preemies' vision
      After a study in mice discovered that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and other oils may protect against blindness in premature babies, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston are ready to test the results in a clinical trial.
    • Do Sunscreens Have You Covered? - New York Times
      '"Most sunscreens are deceptively and misleadingly labeled, most perniciously to give consumers a false sense of security," Mr. Blumenthal said last week. "In my view, the F.D.A.'s failure to act is unconscionable and unjustifiable in any public sense.”
    • Williams syndrome - Social Inhibition - Personality - Developmental Disorders - Brain Disorders - David Dobbs - New York Times
      "If a person suffers the small genetic accident that creates Williams syndrome, he'll live with not only some fairly conventional cognitive deficits, like trouble with space and numbers, but also a strange set of traits that researchers call the Williams social phenotype or, less formally, the “Williams personality”: a love of company and conversation combined, often awkwardly, with a poor understanding of social dynamics and a lack of social inhibition. The combination creates some memorable encounters."


    Tuesday 10 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-09 [del.icio.us]


    Sunday 8 July 2007

    Links for 2007-07-07 [del.icio.us]

    Saturday 7 July 2007

    Accentuate the positive

    In my Thursday links post I mentioned :10 Things (there's a blog and a flickr group too) which I found via a post at happythings. I seem to often finish the day grumpy and stressed. There's never enough time in the day to do all that I want, and feel I need to do. Not enough time to finish the laundry and leave the kitchen clean. Not enough time to be alone with my thoughts, to write about my day (especially all those things my daughter has done that seem so novel and precious right now but will get lost in the fog of memory if I don't record them), to work on my craft projects, to read, to sleep...

    So I think that this would be a good way to end my day as often as I can. I can record snatches of my day, and go to bed with positive things on my mind: happy thoughts, things accomplished, moments enjoyed.

    Here comes my first list (for yesterday). (I don't think I'll be posting them all here, although they may give me jumping off points for posts I guess.)
    1. Fresh Pineapple and Chocolate Bread (these first two things I got as treats for my birthday but didn't actually get to eat any of until today)
    2. My daughter giggling (lots of sustained giggles and laughs today!)
    3. Being at home (it feels restful rather than confining after a few days away with lots of bustle and noise among my husband's family)
    4. Getting to take a relatively unhurried shower without worrying about the baby.
    5. Hugs from my daughter (along with some of the laughing she was snuggling up backwards, sideways, high and low today at times -- often she would be jumping around, exploring, playing and turn to give a hug and then go back to what she was doing)
    6. The Hogfather on DVD (my mum sent for my husband's birthday -- we watched the first of the two parts)
    7. Not having to cook dinner (we got pizza, not the best pizza unfortunately)
    8. Knitting some more on my Monkey socks (just a few more pattern repeats and the toe to go before I have this pair finished)
    9. Blood Orange sorbetto (my husband got this to try when he went to pick up milk at the co-op, very tasty. Our daughter insisted she should be allowed to try some too so we gave her some little tastes. She would make a face that looked quite displeased and then immediately start to insist she have some more)
    10. Our little girl sleeping in the co-sleeper (rather than between us in the bed) for some of the night (just a few hours, but that's more than she's done in a long time).

    links of the day

    Links for 2007-07-06 [del.icio.us]

  • ON THE JOB / Life at the intensive care nursery: Making a living amidst parents' worst nightmares
  • Two-Hour Tote Bag - BeSewStylish
  • This looks like a simple sewing project that results in a nice, fairly roomy bag to use to carry supplies to the beach or park.
  • hedgie bias tape bag on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
    Another cute tote bag (this one's a little smaller), there's a link to a tutorial. I love the hedgehog embroidery on this one, it's what initially caught my eye.
  • Instructables - Ice Cream Pint Cozy
    One of those things that I could totally make myself but it's so nice to find someone else has done the thinking and written it up so I don't have to! A good gift idea for my husband too as he eats straight from the pint tubs more often than me.
  • Instructables - Gift Bags for Bottles
    Another one of those projects I could have figured out for myself, but someone's made it that bit easier for me! So nice not to have to think more than necessary when there's a baby draining your brainpower.
  • What I've learned about what to do when your wallet is stolen. - not martha
    A very informative blog post which I hope never to need to use. But just in case....
  • It's Easy Being Green: playhouses with a conscience - ParentDish
  • Need to come back to this link when my daughter's a bit older. Although for inside the house my brother and I used to do very nicely with the clothes horse and sheets and blankets quite often!

    Links for 2007-07-05 [del.icio.us]

  • BBC NEWS | Health | Organic food 'better' for heart
    "A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant."

    Thursday 5 July 2007

    del.icio.us links of the day
    Posted: 05 Jul 2007 12:00 AM CDT

  • Bubbly Ployes (Buckwheat Pancakes) on Flickr - Photo Sharing! - These look a little like pikelets crossed with pancakes, this makes me want to try the recipe sometime. Also need to try to make pikelets again sometime since I can't get them where I live.
  • CEREAL BOX GIFT BOX: Craft projects from recycled, reused and natural materials.
  • :10 Things is a place for gratitude.
    Found this blog via a post at "happythings" blog: " 10 Things is a place for gratitude. To be thankful for all sorts of things... big, little and medium." "10 Things features writers and photographers, exploring life's little joys through their lens."
  • The Validity ( Or Not ) Of Cognitive Tests | Scientific Blogging
    "Timothy Salthouse, PhD, a noted cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia, has demonstrated that giving a test only once isn't enough to get a clear picture of someone's mental functioning. It appears that repeating tests over a short period may give a more accurate range of scores, improving diagnostic workups."
  • BBC NEWS | Health | Yawning may keep us 'on the ball'
    "Yawning may appear the height of rudeness, but in fact your body is desperately trying to keep you awake, according to research from the US."
  • Mommy Is Truly Dearest - New York Times
  • Wednesday 4 July 2007

    Success (sort of)

    Well I did some looking around on the internet and it seems the automatic posting thingy that del.icio.us offers just isn't compatible with blogger. However I did come across this blog post which includes a tutorial on a way to get a daily update posted almost automatically using FeedBurner. Yay!

    No time to say much else at the moment. This is possibly our busiest week of our year, and this year it's more so because sadly we have a family funeral to go to. So figuring this out is timely -- as long as I have enough time to surf the net a little there should be something to post most every day! Anyway, here's the first of the new links of the day posts:

    Links for 2007-07-03 [del.icio.us]


    Posted:
    04 Jul 2007 12:00 AM CDT