A Party

"No self-respecting woman

should wish or work

for the success of a party

that ignores her sex."

Susan B. Anthony

That's a Shame

"5 Things Not To Say To Divorced Moms" | Huffington Post

I Kind of Believe

"[M]oments alone are like unicorns. I’ve heard of them, I kind of believe in them, but I’ve never really seen one for myself so I can’t be sure." 

Lea Geller | "Parenting Stories: How the Significance of Valentine’s Day Can Change After Kids" | ParentMap

 

No Backsies

I introduced Imogen to "Slug Bug!" Her cousins taught her the follow-up "No Backsies!" Then she added "Gotcha!" And now it's evolved into "Slug Bug! No Backsies! Gotcha! X-out, X-out, X-out!" She rapid fires the whole word string every time she sees a Bug or Beetle.

Might As Well Face It

Immy this morning asked me if I know what a "pinkaholic" is. I said I do. Then she announced that she was dressing as a pinkaholic today: pink shirt, pants, socks and shoes.

Where Your Heart Is

Understanding

“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”

Albert Einstein

Super Bowls

Showing off the bowls we made from Perler Beads.

A Merry Yarn

“Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.”

Ambrose Bierce

From Whence We Came

Lemony

Life gave us lemons.

West of Here

The Best Guy

Imogen yesterday on her "boyfriend" Jackson:

On our way to see him, "He's the best guy I could ever find."

And later after saying goodbye, "It's just so hard to leave the person you love the most."

She asked me if I knew Daddy when I was a child. I said no. "Well I know this person and I'm going to marry him," she replied.

A Lass Unparalleled

Not Blue

Photo: http://www.facebook.com/bjork

“[My daily life at home] is more regular than people think, let’s just say that. There’s definitely a lot of cooking happening. People are not going to believe it, I know, but I’ve always been a bit of a homebody. I had a child at the age of 20, and just when he was getting big, I got a new one.”

“They’re the best companions. I can’t imagine anything better than having a conversation about giraffes and why they are not blue.”

―Björk on her home life and children, in an interview with Spin in 2007

T-i-m-e Spells Love

I went to visit Immy this afternoon and found her busy making this card for me.
It says "Amy I can't wait until you get back from work ©©©©"

Snowstar

The Best Thing

"You're the best thing in the whole, wide world.
Even better than a home."
Imogen to me on November 25, 2011

Felt Happy

I'm a bit behind here because I bought a house and moved about a month ago. And I've finally hung something on the walls! These are felt and stitched wall hangings collected at the Port Angeles Goodwill in the last few years (for about $11 total). They're hung in Imogen's room above her work table. I got the idea to group them from the book Design*Sponge At Home.

It's Christmastime

Days You'll Remember

My Favorite Thing

Photo by Emma Janssen

We went to Juan de Fuca Festival's The Sound of Music sing-along.
Immy won a costume award for "Most Likely to Elicit Awwwws."
Her prizes were a whistle, [whiskers on] a kitten and a bright copper kettle
in a brown paper package tied up with strings.

Making Stuff

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Do Good Anyway

"According to the Census figures from 2010, across the country, 31.6 percent of single-parent families headed by a woman — about 4.7 million in total — were impoverished. That figure marked an increase from 29.9 percent just one year prior.

Male-led single-parent families fared better with about 15.8 percent — or 880,000 total families — below the poverty threshold.

In comparison, just 6.2 percent of married-couple families were impoverished in 2010."

Max Reinhart | "Single moms in poverty here reflect national data" | The News-Herald Online

A Bit of an Expert

Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, on breastfeeding:


“Carla is feeding the baby. I think it's much better for protecting against allergies and illnesses.

It does free men of blame because we don't have the problem of bottle-feeding. You don't have to get up at night, although out of solidarity, I do open one eye.

But for the woman, it's both a joy and a kind of slavery. She is worried about not having enough milk.

I've become a bit of an expert, at my age!"

Quotes and Photo From Hello!magazine.com

The Generous Harvest

Brides for Brothers

Help the GOP, Marry a Single Mom
(Seriously, someone suggested this.)

A Western Sense

Special Relativity

What does "The Speed of Life" mean?

Imogen

With One Voice

Dear 2012 Presidential Candidates,

We are your future constituents and we are parents.

We are American mothers and fathers and grandparents and guardians. Our families might be the most diverse in the world. Blended and combined in endless permutations, we represent every major religion, political ideology and ethnic culture that exists. We are made from equal parts biology and choice. Our children come to us in every way possible—including fertility miracles, adoption, and remarriage.

Our very modern families embody the freedom that defines America. We embody America. We are rich in diversity, but we are united in our family values. We come together today, with one voice, to express our grave disappointment in the national political discourse.

The 2012 countdown has barely begun and we are already being bombarded with the warmed-over, hypocritical rhetoric of 2008. We are living in a time where 15.1% of Americans now live in poverty, the unemployment rate stands at 16%, and we are spending close to $170 billion annually between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan*.

Given the current state of affairs we would expect every candidate to focus on the issues that truly matter: job creation, debt-relief, taxes, education, poverty, and ending the war(s). Instead, it is already clear to us that the conversation has been hijacked, with the goal of further polarizing our nation into a politically motivated and falsely created class-war.

We will not stand for another campaign year in which politicians presume to know what our family values are as they relate to the nation.

To be clear, here are our family values:

Affordable health care, including family planning, for all Americans. We will not tolerate any candidate using the shield of “Choice” to blind us from the issues that really matter. When funding is stripped from organizations like Planned Parenthood, access to sliding-scale health care (including yearly pap smears & mammograms), comprehensive sex education, and family planning is blocked from the poorest of the population.

Access to education, and the ability to actually use it. We want quality, affordable, federally-funded pre-K programs made available in every State, in order to provide an even starting point for all children enrolled in public schools— regardless of the wealth of the district or town they live in.

A reinstatement of regulations for banks issuing mortgages and full prosecution for those who engaged in fraudulent lending practices. We want full accountability —investigation, indictment and prosecution— of those individuals and institutions who engaged in fraudulent lending practices and who helped create the massive foreclosures that left many families homeless or struggling to keep their homes.

A return of strict environmental regulations protecting water, air, food, and land that were removed in the last two decades. We want our children to grow up in a world not weighed down by the strains of pollution and global warming. Between BPA in our products, sky-rocketing rates of asthma in kids, questionable hormones in our over-processed food, and more, we need leaders who will put our needs and safety over the desires and profits of large corporations.

Family planning, healthcare, education, economic solvency and environmental safety: these are our national family values.

Candidates who demonstrate the ability to understand the gravity of these issues, and their impact on our families, and who can provide actual, viable solutions to these problems will garner our support and our votes.

We believe in this democratic system of ours, and we will continue to use our voices and our votes to see that it reaches its fullest potential.

Sincerely,

Your future constituents,

The mothers & fathers of America

Click here to find out more about this letter.

If the World Were a Village

If the world were a village of 100 people
B I N S W O R L D

Nevermind

Rejoice Regardless

Elizabeth Shepherd, Bainbridge Island Storyteller (and others)

Story That Stands By Itself

Monochrome Self-Portrait
by Imogen

The Charming Gardeners

Our friends Bob & Kristina personalized this Blue Hubbard Squash for Imogen.

What You Have to Do

I was reading Winter Days in the Big Woods to Imogen. She mentioned how cute Laura Ingalls was. Then, referring to the opening credits of the TV show Little House on the Prairie, said, "Remember, she fell down in the meadow? That's what you have to do. You have to stop crying, get up and start running again."

That's my Immy.

An Artist is a Dreamer

Play-Doh

Doing This Thing Together

Imogen and Me on a Sailboat
by Imogen

Magnetic Yield

Upcycled Pizza Flyer Magnets
by Imogen

Ditto

Goodnight Immy
Goodnight Mama
Sweet dreams Baby Love
Sweet dreams Mama Love
You’re the greatest kid ever
You’re the greatest Mom ever
I love you Immy
I love you too Mama
Goodnight Goodnight

Play a Role

You’re part of society.

You have to play a role or you set yourself aside from it.

Axel Emmermann (On CBCradio's The Current)