I get home from being with clients all day Wednesday to hear several voice messages...
VM #1 - no big deal - dealt with & deleted
VM #2 - dear friend - they had gotten a puppy over the weekend and we were over to their house, loving up the puppy. Puppy went for first vet appointment and they found out he has round worms - which can transfer to humans and are problematic for kids - vet advised that you all better call your doctor.
Oh joy! Luckly, I'm not too squeamish, so just add this to the long list of "to-dos" - call doctor.
VM #3 - the parent who runs Gemma's after school urban agriculture club - no club tomorrow - his kids are sick. They have chicken pox, despite having been vaccinated - and were at clubs during it turns out during their highly contageous period. So watch Gemma for signs of chicken pox, even if she's been vaccinated.
Lovely - two bizarre disease warnings right in a row.
Still two messages to go - I'm a bit curious to know what the next one will be.
VM #3 - Madison School Community Rec - a cultural arts class that each girl was going to take for three weeks this summer cancelled due to low enrollment. They have other things available for kids Rowan's age - not for Gemma though. What would we like to do?
Oh joy - a three week gap in the summer activities now appears on our calendar with other options filling up quickly.
One message left and I think, "please let this one have some positive closure on something."
VM #4 - another parent - the idea for sharing transportation to and from Girl Scouts for Gemma and her daughter sounds great - we're all square with that - see ya' Thursday.
HOORAY - at least I got positive closure on one of those messages.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Our Neighborhood Schools Dealt a Painful Blow
Our neighborhood is just reeling after Monday evening's school board meeting. Our state has been severely burdened with a school spending limit (QEO - qualified economic offer) made into law in the 1990's that is now really taking it's toll in the form of painful cuts to children's scrvices throughout the state. Our district has not remained unscathed - we've cut millions from the budget year after year. This year (07-08) requires another $7 million in cuts.
So I don't envy district officials and members of our board of education in their task of figuring out how to manage cuts of these magnitudes. And I've really had enough of politicians who think more about warring with others than about educating young children!!
Sadly, the cuts for this coming year have laid a disproportionate burden on our neighborhood's elementary schools, when there were options on the table which could have shared the impact of the cuts more equitably. My letter to the board post-decision speaks to my concerns for the well-being of our children, their teachers and our neighborhood.
Dear Members of the MMSD (Madison Metropolitan School District) Board of Ed,
I am writing to express my deep disappointment in Monday’s decision to consolidate Lapham and Marquette Elementary Schools into one K-5 school. While the district has referred to this move as a “consolidation,” it is in truth a school closing, as Marquette will now be closed to elementary-aged students. I fully acknowledge the incredible burden placed on the BOE of figure out how to cut millions of dollars from the district’s budget. Sadly, the decisions made Monday night will have laid a disproportionate burden on one segment of the district’s population – families and staff members in the Lapham-Marquette attendance area.
I am a long-term Wil-Mar Neighborhood resident, living in the neighborhood since 1988 and purchasing a home with my partner in 1992, a professional educator and small business owner (my partner is also an educator) and a parent to two daughters, one attending Lapham and the other currently at Marquette. I have a investment in the long-term health and well-being of central city neighborhoods and believe deeply that the re-opening of Lapham Elementary in the 1990s was instrumental to the revitalization of neighborhoods on the Isthmus. Therefore I am profoundly concerned that closing Marquette to elementary-aged students may have a destructive impact on the health of these same Isthmus neighborhoods.
As I assume you are aware, there are many challenges facing our central city neighborhoods these days - very high property values and property taxes as well as the influx of "mixed used buildings" with condos (most units not being adequately sized for families) - factors which potentially make the neighborhood less accessible for families with young children and families with lower incomes. A big draw for our families has been the school pair - vibrant, well-managed and exciting places to learn, geared to the developmental needs of children. Residents have found ways to stay in the neighborhood, despite the high cost of housing to keep our kids at Lapham-Marquette. Removing this pairing and consolidating the nearly 500 children into a small building I firmly believe removes a key attraction to young families.
I'm assuming you’re also aware that placing nearly 500 children in a building which at one point was said to have a capacity limit of about 300-350 means that children will enter the school in an over-crowded condition. If our enrollment increases at all in the next few years, we will be over-capacity and will need to seek yet another alternative for housing these kids. Again, placing children and teachers in a building so that in Year One of the consolidation we're nearly at (or at) capacity seems to be applying a “band-aide” to a problem that requires much longer-term solutions.
As I assume you are also aware, school mobility has a negative impact on children's learning. The children currently at Marquette will be expected to make a school change this coming fall - some of whom just moved to Marquette this past fall as incoming third graders and others who will be moving to Lapham for one year and then moving to O'Keefe the following year as middle schoolers. My older daughter, for example, will make three school transitions under the current plan by the time she enters middle school - once in the 2006-07 school year to transition from Lapham to Marquette as a third grader, next in the 2007-08 year to transition back to Lapham as a fourth grader and then in 2009-10 to transition to O'Keefe as a sixth grader. While I fully acknowledge that they will be moving with peers, the simple fact is that they will be moving three times - even with the best resources to support resiliency, these sorts of moves are extremely stressful for young children and confusing as well - things that are not assets to productive learning.
Another very large concern for me is the rapid time-table for consolidation. A decision of this magnitude that impacts the next school year was made in late April giving very little time for planning for a smooth transition and puts staff under incredible stress. Additionally, it seems that there is not clarity about the security of teaching positions amongst the staff at Marquette - many of us wonder if they will be able to keep their jobs or will be surplussed (yet another stressor for our students, not knowing who their teachers might be next year). We have been given a new principal - one who is not familiar with our neighborhoods, students, families and teachers and who will be returning after a leave of absence, who is now expected to help support this transition. Non-clarity of who will be working in the school, new leadership and a consolidation all targeted at one population at the same time are major detriments to our schools' resiliency and sustainability.
I understand that our current elementary schools with large student populations have assistant principals assigned to them. I am confused and concerned about why no such mention of an assistant principal has been made for the new consolidated elementary school, as it too will now be a large elementary school.
I understand the issues of needing to find a stable home for the affiliated programs housed at Brearly Street and support stability for these students and teachers. I believe some ideas about how to house these programs and keep Lapham and Marquette open as elementary schools have been (or will be) proposed for consideration. I would strongly hope that all board members will actively consider these proposals as they have the likelihood of taking the "higher ground" for the good of all of these children and young people and may provide a more true long-term solution.
So I don't envy district officials and members of our board of education in their task of figuring out how to manage cuts of these magnitudes. And I've really had enough of politicians who think more about warring with others than about educating young children!!
Sadly, the cuts for this coming year have laid a disproportionate burden on our neighborhood's elementary schools, when there were options on the table which could have shared the impact of the cuts more equitably. My letter to the board post-decision speaks to my concerns for the well-being of our children, their teachers and our neighborhood.
Dear Members of the MMSD (Madison Metropolitan School District) Board of Ed,
I am writing to express my deep disappointment in Monday’s decision to consolidate Lapham and Marquette Elementary Schools into one K-5 school. While the district has referred to this move as a “consolidation,” it is in truth a school closing, as Marquette will now be closed to elementary-aged students. I fully acknowledge the incredible burden placed on the BOE of figure out how to cut millions of dollars from the district’s budget. Sadly, the decisions made Monday night will have laid a disproportionate burden on one segment of the district’s population – families and staff members in the Lapham-Marquette attendance area.
I am a long-term Wil-Mar Neighborhood resident, living in the neighborhood since 1988 and purchasing a home with my partner in 1992, a professional educator and small business owner (my partner is also an educator) and a parent to two daughters, one attending Lapham and the other currently at Marquette. I have a investment in the long-term health and well-being of central city neighborhoods and believe deeply that the re-opening of Lapham Elementary in the 1990s was instrumental to the revitalization of neighborhoods on the Isthmus. Therefore I am profoundly concerned that closing Marquette to elementary-aged students may have a destructive impact on the health of these same Isthmus neighborhoods.
As I assume you are aware, there are many challenges facing our central city neighborhoods these days - very high property values and property taxes as well as the influx of "mixed used buildings" with condos (most units not being adequately sized for families) - factors which potentially make the neighborhood less accessible for families with young children and families with lower incomes. A big draw for our families has been the school pair - vibrant, well-managed and exciting places to learn, geared to the developmental needs of children. Residents have found ways to stay in the neighborhood, despite the high cost of housing to keep our kids at Lapham-Marquette. Removing this pairing and consolidating the nearly 500 children into a small building I firmly believe removes a key attraction to young families.
I'm assuming you’re also aware that placing nearly 500 children in a building which at one point was said to have a capacity limit of about 300-350 means that children will enter the school in an over-crowded condition. If our enrollment increases at all in the next few years, we will be over-capacity and will need to seek yet another alternative for housing these kids. Again, placing children and teachers in a building so that in Year One of the consolidation we're nearly at (or at) capacity seems to be applying a “band-aide” to a problem that requires much longer-term solutions.
As I assume you are also aware, school mobility has a negative impact on children's learning. The children currently at Marquette will be expected to make a school change this coming fall - some of whom just moved to Marquette this past fall as incoming third graders and others who will be moving to Lapham for one year and then moving to O'Keefe the following year as middle schoolers. My older daughter, for example, will make three school transitions under the current plan by the time she enters middle school - once in the 2006-07 school year to transition from Lapham to Marquette as a third grader, next in the 2007-08 year to transition back to Lapham as a fourth grader and then in 2009-10 to transition to O'Keefe as a sixth grader. While I fully acknowledge that they will be moving with peers, the simple fact is that they will be moving three times - even with the best resources to support resiliency, these sorts of moves are extremely stressful for young children and confusing as well - things that are not assets to productive learning.
Another very large concern for me is the rapid time-table for consolidation. A decision of this magnitude that impacts the next school year was made in late April giving very little time for planning for a smooth transition and puts staff under incredible stress. Additionally, it seems that there is not clarity about the security of teaching positions amongst the staff at Marquette - many of us wonder if they will be able to keep their jobs or will be surplussed (yet another stressor for our students, not knowing who their teachers might be next year). We have been given a new principal - one who is not familiar with our neighborhoods, students, families and teachers and who will be returning after a leave of absence, who is now expected to help support this transition. Non-clarity of who will be working in the school, new leadership and a consolidation all targeted at one population at the same time are major detriments to our schools' resiliency and sustainability.
I understand that our current elementary schools with large student populations have assistant principals assigned to them. I am confused and concerned about why no such mention of an assistant principal has been made for the new consolidated elementary school, as it too will now be a large elementary school.
I understand the issues of needing to find a stable home for the affiliated programs housed at Brearly Street and support stability for these students and teachers. I believe some ideas about how to house these programs and keep Lapham and Marquette open as elementary schools have been (or will be) proposed for consideration. I would strongly hope that all board members will actively consider these proposals as they have the likelihood of taking the "higher ground" for the good of all of these children and young people and may provide a more true long-term solution.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Happy Beltane
Today is the First of May - May Day - Beltane!
It is the mid-point between Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice - the height of spring in the Solar Calendar. Beltane is the last of the three spring fertility - earth awakenings festivals.
Take some time today to help wake up the earth from Her slumber - plant something beautiful, make a May Basket for someone dear to you, dance a May Pole, notice what is blooming in your life (both literally and figuratively) and take time for joy.
It is the mid-point between Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice - the height of spring in the Solar Calendar. Beltane is the last of the three spring fertility - earth awakenings festivals.
Take some time today to help wake up the earth from Her slumber - plant something beautiful, make a May Basket for someone dear to you, dance a May Pole, notice what is blooming in your life (both literally and figuratively) and take time for joy.
Madison Youth Choir
-dateline, Madison, WI
Sunday, April 29, 2007
1:00 PM
Mitby Theater
Madison Area Technical College
Sunday, April 29, 2007
1:00 PM
Mitby Theater
Madison Area Technical College
Rowan's Stage Singing Debut with the
Madison Youth Choirs
Last fall Rowan expressed interest in joining the Madison Youth Choir after they made a visit to her school the previous spring. She joined an introductory choir to do some early voice training, learn group singing/choral techniques and gain a basic understanding of conductor's signals. She loved it! The intro class served as her audition for MYC's youngest girls performing choir, Choraliers. She joined forty-some grade 3-5 aged girls in February, thus this is her first performance with the choir. May 9 the choirs will be "touring" various schools and elderly residential facilities and she'll have the chance to perform again.
We are very proud of her. She's worked hard and enjoyed her experience a lot. Their closing song was a beautiful version of Shalom, which she loves. We could really hear her voice blending in with the other girls to carry the melody while two harmony parts were being sung.
We were also treated to hearing/seeing all the boys' choirs and the older girls' choirs through high school aged kids. It was amazing to hear the musicianship of each group and stunning to see how hard kids and conductors alike have worked to achieve what they have achieved. Many of the kids looked like they enjoyed themselves thoroughly, which is also very powerful to observe.
We very much appreciate both Rowan's intro choir conductor, whose gentle spirit, encouragement and skill helped Rowan's interest and love of music grow. And we very much appreciate her Choraliers conductor, who holds high expectations for the girls and gives them lots of encouraging and concrete feedback. Her musical choices were also outstanding. She also directs one of the older girls' choirs and both choirs sang culturally diverse music with strong peace and justice themes throughout.
Soccer, Soccer, Soccer!!
-dateline, Madison, WISaturday, April 28, 2007
9:00 AM
Panthers (Rowan's team) vs. Vipers - Sandburg Park
Lorax (Gemma's team) vs. Merkles - Warner Park
Ah, the Saturday mornings of having two soccer games to attend have begun with Gemma's "season openner" and Rowan's 3rd game of the season happening at the EXACT same time in two different parks. This will be the only time during the spring season that the games are at different times. The other games have some lead time between each so we can make the mad dash to the next field.
Cuteness factor very high all around!! These little guys did great - even managed some passing and several of their goals were scored because they worked as a team. No official score since they do non-competitive play at this stage.
So while Gemma happily kicked and dribbled away, Rowan's team was keeping up their energy a few neighborhoods away against a tough team. They played well, especially the first half, and lost narrowly.
Family Pride
Want to check out some very cute kid-drawn pictures? Then go to http://www.familypride.org/contest/ where you can see the ten finalists in the Family Pride Coalition's picture contest. Our girls do not have an entry - oops, Mom forgot about the deadline.
The website shows the ten finalists - ranging in age from 3.5 to 12 years, all sharing their pride in the family, which is headed by gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered parents.
The website shows the ten finalists - ranging in age from 3.5 to 12 years, all sharing their pride in the family, which is headed by gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered parents.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Look Who Is Playing Soccer
Gemma has now joined her sister in taking on the game of soccer. She's expressed interest for awhile now though we had to work through why she couldn't join The Panthers (Rowan's team) who are all 3 to 4 years older than her, much bigger than her and who have all been playing together since kindergarten themselves.Once we overcame this initial roadblock, she was pretty excited about joining the MAYSA (Madison Area Youth Soccer Association) recreation league. All teams are formed by kids in the same school, so they play with friends and peers and teams often stay together for up to four years.
The first order of business for Gem was checking out the uniforms. Her team name is The Lorax (all MAYSA teams formed this spring are named after Dr. Seus characters). So she thought, logically, that their uniforms should be Lorax colored. However, she approved of the red and black and once satisified with the attire, hit the play field with much enthusiasm.
Post game we went shopping and managed to find itty-bitty shin guards and size 12 toddlers cleats! We often find her these days putting on her shin guards and cleats and prancing around in her uniform.
The kids have another practice tomorrow night with first game on Saturday.
Earth Day 2007
Our Earth Day morning started out with planting Burr Oaks and White Swamp Oaks and hybrid Burr and White Swamp Oaks along the shores of Lake Mendota at Tenney Park.
The day was gorgeous, sunny, warm a soft breeze - reminding of all of what an incredible home we have and how tenderly this home needs to be cared for everyday.
I will enjoy bringing the girls to check on these trees throughout this summer and years to come.
Tatoo Artist
Rowan worked a shift at Family Fun Night and was a Tatoo Artist. Gemma waited patiently in line to have her sister do her tatoo, opting out of a turn sooner, because her tatoo would have been done by someone else. I was proud of Rowan because she followed through and stuck with her work shift while other kids blew off their responsibilities, opting to extend their own personal Fun Night experience. Rowan still got plenty of time to hang out too as her work shift did not take up the entire evening.
How Much Attitude Can One LIttle Girl Have?
Lots!! She's so proud to wear her school's T-shirt at Family Fun Night.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Little Ironies
April 9 - 13 is Tornado Awareness Week here in Wisconsin and today we are under a Winter Storm Warning, getting lots of heavy wet snow with blowing and drifting and 1/4 mile visability.
Hey, its the upper Midwest in early April
Hey, its the upper Midwest in early April
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Welcome Spring!!
On Tuesday evening, at about 7:00 we ushered in Spring here in the midwest. 
Our preparations for the Ostara (Spring Equinox) celebration began on Saturday with coloring eggs. Look at those gorgeous dyes - no pre-packaged pellets - just food dye, vinegar and boiling water. The colors were just great on the eggs - soft and new looking - like a water color painting.
Egg dying and decorating is deep-rooted in European pre-Christian cultures as the egg sympbolizes fertility and new life. Women who wanted to become pregnant would often wear a finely decorated egg to help bring about the hope of a new little life. Today, they symbolize the beauty of the season for us and bringing ferility of new ideas, new ventures, new beginnings into our lives at spring time.
Our preparations for the Ostara (Spring Equinox) celebration began on Saturday with coloring eggs. Look at those gorgeous dyes - no pre-packaged pellets - just food dye, vinegar and boiling water. The colors were just great on the eggs - soft and new looking - like a water color painting.Egg dying and decorating is deep-rooted in European pre-Christian cultures as the egg sympbolizes fertility and new life. Women who wanted to become pregnant would often wear a finely decorated egg to help bring about the hope of a new little life. Today, they symbolize the beauty of the season for us and bringing ferility of new ideas, new ventures, new beginnings into our lives at spring time.
And, of course, hunting the eggs is always great fun. Our egg hunt was last night - on our first full day of spring - in Bev and Karen's yard. Their yard and the weather were perfect examples of spring. There were left-over snow piles, all crusty with the melting and refreezing that happens when the days warm, but the nights are still cold. There were mud holes deep enough to swallow a small child from those places where the snow had completely melted and there were barren branches in the trees and bushes, waiting for the new buds. The weather provided lots of spring-time drama with temps in the lower 50's, fog, rain and then a series of good old thunderstorms. We got in the egg hunt between one down-pour and the next thunderstorm.
Of course these eggs were hidden by the infamous Bunny - again this furry magical creature has its roots in pre-Christian and Pagan traditions. The rabbit is understood to be a goddess who has taken on an animal form to bring newness and fertility (think about all of those babies rabbits have!) to the world in the early spring.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Sad
The U.S. war in Iraq is one of those things that often takes up space in my mind - it is there on a sub-conscious level and on a conscious one - my saddness and anger are quick to rise about it. However, I got an additional perspective on it the other day which blows me away - and saddens me ever further.
One morning this week we walked out of our house to get the girls to school to find a flyer from the Madison Area Peace Coalition posted on the telephone pole at the end of our driveway, declaring that there is to be a rally tomorrow (Saturday) to mark the 4th year of the war in Iraq and calling once again for an end to that war.
Fourth year and moving into our fifth!! This war started in March 2003. Gemma was 1.5 years old - she's now 5.5 years old. The magnitude of this has been sitting with me all week. We've been at war with Iraq nearly this child's entire life - and certainly as long as she can remember. This just saddens me to the bone and frustrates me to the quick!
One morning this week we walked out of our house to get the girls to school to find a flyer from the Madison Area Peace Coalition posted on the telephone pole at the end of our driveway, declaring that there is to be a rally tomorrow (Saturday) to mark the 4th year of the war in Iraq and calling once again for an end to that war.
Fourth year and moving into our fifth!! This war started in March 2003. Gemma was 1.5 years old - she's now 5.5 years old. The magnitude of this has been sitting with me all week. We've been at war with Iraq nearly this child's entire life - and certainly as long as she can remember. This just saddens me to the bone and frustrates me to the quick!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
You Are Kermit
| You Are Kermit |
 Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies! |
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Introducing....
Peanut - a male dwarf hamster
Adoption Day - Saturday, March 3, 2007
He's not a dog (sniff-sniff from my point of view) though he's darn cute!!!
Rowan has been asking for a dwarf hamster for quite a while. We went to a pet shop we trust - no mill pets there, all hand-raised by the staff. This little guy has the sweetest disposition - very gentle, very friendly.
Adoption Day - Saturday, March 3, 2007
He's not a dog (sniff-sniff from my point of view) though he's darn cute!!!Rowan has been asking for a dwarf hamster for quite a while. We went to a pet shop we trust - no mill pets there, all hand-raised by the staff. This little guy has the sweetest disposition - very gentle, very friendly.
Look in the foreground - recoginize what those are? Yep, Luna's ears! She's very curious, more so than any of the other cats. After having to survive on small creatures like this as a young cat, I'm sure its very confusing about why we have a rodent in the house that she's not allowed to eat. She leaves Peanut be when he's in his house though - especially given that he's on bookshelf not large enough for her to stand.
The girls pooled their own money to get him and all of his accessories - a very smart investment on their part. He is well-loved.
Welcome Peanut!
March Maddness - Koester-Jess Style
It's true*Madison just hosted state girls high school basketball tournaments last weekend.
*Madison will host the high school boys this weekend.
*Our University of Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team is ranked very high and are headed into NCAA play-offs.
HOWEVER, this si not the March Madness of which I speak. We had our own family version this past week.
First up is Rowan. She joined an afterschool league run by Madison School and Community Recreation. Initally she was hesitant to join the league since its a 3rd through 5th grade league and she hadn't played before, she wondered if she'd feel comfortable playiing with kids with more experience. After reminding her that there would be other inexperienced kids there, she agreed to give it a go, though she wasn't thrilled about the games.
Well...game day came on Tuesday, she started the experience in tears, having forgotten her tennis shoes for warm-up and the coaches not being able to find her team shirt. Her classroom teacher, who is absolutely wonderful, stepped in to help and I had a moment between meetngs, so I ran to the school with her shoes so she could warm up. By the time we arrived near the start of game time, her attitude had done a 180, she was pumped and ready to play. Her biggest complaint about the expeirence was that she didn't get to play enough! Yes, she loved it!!
She's a great runner and keeps up with the ball well, knows when to hang back for defense and when to move in for offense - all skills she's acquired through her years of playing soccer. As you can see from the picture though, her next level of skill development is getting those hands ready to receive a pass or go in to steal the ball. All that soccer training has taught her to keep hands tight to her sides to avoid a handball, rather than to have them up and ready for a basketball.
Not to be outdone by her oldest daughter, Jani played basketball on both Thursday and Friday afternoons. Every year Evans Scholars (http://www.wisgolfer.com/cms/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=249) does a weekend basketball-a-thon to help raise funds for four local organizations, Jani's program, working with homeless kids in the schools has been a recipient for many years. The agreement is that her school host a few teams to play the Scholars -*one team of fourth and fifth grade aged kids.
*one team of school staff members.
*one team of afterschool program staff members.
The kids typically play the school staff the day before the basketball-a-thon to get in practice. Jani played that game.
She was happy to only have to play for a little while on Friday afternoon against the college folks. Don't you love her basketball playing outfit - as you can see she was thinking she might not have to play at all, decked out instead of a t-shirt in her UW Badgers shirt, jeans and tennies. She kept stats and is show here sharing those with the school's prinicipal who also played.
Now as if that wasn't enough, the girls participated in a gymnastics exhibition on Saturday morning. It was a non-competitive meet where they each got to show off their skills. Gemma's favorite activities are on the bars - the little girl has incredible upper body strength. She's also great at tumbling. Rowan loves and is really good at the trampuline and beam. Here they are getting their trophies at the end of the exhibition. Gemma is so proud of hers. Thanks to cousin Carrie and Marsha for coming to watch this event and have lunch with us to celebrate afterward.
Gosh, it appears I was the only one not doing some sort of sport this weekend. Oh well, now that the weather is shifting into spring I can get back to walking, running and biking. Rowan and I are planning to train for a spring run - probably Race for the Cure, a fall run - most likely the Canterbury Run for LIteracy and an early winter run - the JingleBell Run for the Arthitis Foundation in December.
Tampontification - Donating is Just a Click Away
Seventh Generation, a company that makes chemically safe cleaning products and dye-free, chemical-free hygiene supplies has a donation link on their website at http://www.tampontification.com:80/donate.php where we each can help donate tampons and pads to women's shelters around the country. Often women's shelters can provide basic hygiene items, but are often in need of feminine hygiene things. I know when Jani collects donations for her families, rarely have I seen these things come in for the moms and older girls. And, these things are expensive and often are not covered by programs like food stamps or WIC. It's a simple way to make a donation and appears to be legit.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Adventures in Felting
Remember washing a favorite wool sweater in water that was too warm and having it shrink to the size of something a doll could wear and just being bummed to no end? Well, now shrinking wool items is an intentional art form with gobs and gobs of patterns available on "felted" items. Who knew that someone would figure out how to take a disasterous moment and making it into art!
I decided I wanted to try my hand at this - it not only produces cool results, its a great little science project and guestimation process of how big (small) will this thing turn out. I wanted to make felted cloggs (house slippers like the pricey ones you can get at REI), but thought it best to start with a less labor intensive felting project first to get the hang of it.
While surfing the www.knitty.com website one day, I cam across a pattern developed by a high schooler for a felted lunch bag. Here's the link http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTbrownbag.html. The idea of a woool felted lunch bag struck me as both unusual and interesting. The felt would serve as a great natural insulator and it sure could be pretty neat to look at.
So off I went to Lakeside Fibers to get some felting yarn. I settled on Cascade 220. After starting to knitt he base, I could see that the original pattern was just going to be too small to hold a kid's lunch - a high schooler's yes, a kid's lunch complete with soy milk carton and a thermos of soup, no way. So I ripped out, increased the number of stitches cast on and the number of rows. As the bag neared completion of the knitting, it was HUGE - like the size of one of those messh eco-shopping bags and I wondered if I'd made a critical error in judgement by increasing the pattern.
Here's the bag before felting.
Here's the bag after felting - about 3 sizes smaller than the original knitted size - lovely, soft and thick - a nice thing to hold one's lunch, good and thermal.
It needs a button clusure yet and then it will be ready to hold Rowan's lunch - yes, she's laid dibs on it which is great because her lunch bag needs to desperately e retired!! She's going to use it for a bit and then we'll evaluate whether it needs a handle. I can easily add one if needed.
I've got yarn chosen to make another of these to donate to the Lapham/Marquette Schools silent auction coming up at the end of April. First though I am making a felted eye glass case for Jani's sunglasses.
I decided I wanted to try my hand at this - it not only produces cool results, its a great little science project and guestimation process of how big (small) will this thing turn out. I wanted to make felted cloggs (house slippers like the pricey ones you can get at REI), but thought it best to start with a less labor intensive felting project first to get the hang of it.
While surfing the www.knitty.com website one day, I cam across a pattern developed by a high schooler for a felted lunch bag. Here's the link http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTbrownbag.html. The idea of a woool felted lunch bag struck me as both unusual and interesting. The felt would serve as a great natural insulator and it sure could be pretty neat to look at.
So off I went to Lakeside Fibers to get some felting yarn. I settled on Cascade 220. After starting to knitt he base, I could see that the original pattern was just going to be too small to hold a kid's lunch - a high schooler's yes, a kid's lunch complete with soy milk carton and a thermos of soup, no way. So I ripped out, increased the number of stitches cast on and the number of rows. As the bag neared completion of the knitting, it was HUGE - like the size of one of those messh eco-shopping bags and I wondered if I'd made a critical error in judgement by increasing the pattern.
Here's the bag before felting.
Here's the bag after felting - about 3 sizes smaller than the original knitted size - lovely, soft and thick - a nice thing to hold one's lunch, good and thermal. It needs a button clusure yet and then it will be ready to hold Rowan's lunch - yes, she's laid dibs on it which is great because her lunch bag needs to desperately e retired!! She's going to use it for a bit and then we'll evaluate whether it needs a handle. I can easily add one if needed.
I've got yarn chosen to make another of these to donate to the Lapham/Marquette Schools silent auction coming up at the end of April. First though I am making a felted eye glass case for Jani's sunglasses.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
International Women's Day - March 8
Today is International Women's Day. Read more about the day and its history at http://www.internationalwomensday.com/. The above image is from their site.The theme for this year's IWD is ending violence against woman - wow, I would love to see that happen in my life time.
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