Anyways. If it were funnier, I'd post pictures of our various leaking ceilings and the buckets and the knotted pantyhose full of ice melt out on the roof. Only it's not funny (except maybe for Birdy saying "Why is there a panty-hoe on the roof?") so I'll post this instead:
That's a picture from this etsy site here, where I bought Ben and Birdy spoons for Valentine's Day. Shhh . . . But aren't they lovely? The ones I got in the mail are even lovelier! Beautifully mismatched and sentimental and gorgeous. The woman who made them emailed to ask if they were for boys or girls, since she has some more masculine spoons (?) for boys, and I started to answer her in a complicated way, and then it was just too complicated, so I wrote simply, "Girls. Thanks." Not that Ben wouldn't love to get a silver spoon with a big, er, truck or football or bow tie or cock on it. But he'll have to settle for a pretty one.
What else? Let's see. Will you check out my recipes on family.com? Brownies here, and Ben learning how to make a salad here. I can't tell you what a revelation this has been. Now every night he says, "Hey, Mama, should I make a salad?" And I say, "Oh, would you?" And he does. We are thrilled.
One last thing. I can't remember if I mentioned this piece, on charitable giving, that I wrote for Whole Living, but I'm linking to it because writing it changed my life.
Hope you guys are all staying warm and dry and happy. xoxo
I love that you call them ice fucks. So much more appropriate. And also, now I can't get the idea of a cock spoon out of my mind. :)
ReplyDeleteLovely article, very thoughtful. Currently my charitable focus is very local, staffed 100% volunteer and helping our local children. I'm still struggling with the thought of large charities where the top staff make 5X our household income. I am going over to read the 365 blog. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeletePlease watch out for those Panty Hoes on the roof.
ReplyDeleteOff to read your article, thanks!
That's a great article, there missy. I enjoy being generous as I can, annd realize there has to be a personal focus to the giving. I recently had an opportunity to add to a friend's medical fund. She is 40 and has stage four colon cancer and is working with a doctor in NYC instead of her native SC. That was a no-brainer.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a great article in today's Wall Street Journal about Ice Dams and how people pay $1,000 to have someone chip ice off their roofs. I'm in the wrong business. When we had ice-dams-in-training here a few weeks ago, I got them down with a shovel (and ducked out of the way).
Funny, that--I just wrote a whole blog post about ice dams myself. But I think I could have vented my frustration more easily just by calling them ice fucks. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI read your article, wanted to mention a (humanist/secular) charitable group we support-
ReplyDeleteLast year we started giving through the Foundation Beyond Belief
http://foundationbeyondbelief.org/
Every quarter they pick charities in several major categories (Health, Poverty, Environment, Child Welfare, etc)
Donors give money to FBB and they pass the donations to the charities. Donors can nominate charities, and you can divide percentages of your donations for different categories. Benefits include someone else vetting organizations for you, and the organizations don't get your info to send you mailings and phone calls asking for more. FBB asks for donations separately for operational expenses so that your quarterly donations go 100% through to the target charities. I have found it to be a great way to give.
Rachel from 6512 sent me here and I am happy to find you. You had me at ice fucks.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful article. I love that through all the very seriousness of needy children and charitable causes, there are plenty of Catherine-isms to smile about
ReplyDeleteYou might know all this info pertaining to ice dam(n)s already, but I thought of you when I saw it in the paper today:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_17297290
Also wanted to mention that we made the squash gratin this week and it was wonderful! One of those recipes that is greater than the sum of its parts - loved how the rosemary infused the cream to flavor the whole dish.
You are my cybermama mentor and I found the article on charity very inspiring, so I just talked with the kids about how we are starting a saving-for-charity jar. One daughter wants to give school supplies and one wants to help oceans and fish. Also started hash tag #kidscangive over at Twitter, where people can tweet stories from their own families. Anyway, thanks for being you.
ReplyDeleteI will head over and read the article here shortly, after I am done chortling about ice fucks and cock spoons. :D
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wanted to say that I was thrilled last night to see that one can still find your Art of Camping article and checklist floating around cyberspace. I just booked sites to *finally* take my kids camping on Cape Cod, and I'm not sure who's more excited. They've never camped, ever, the poor dears, and I haven't in over 12 years! I haven't camped on Cape Cod since I was 16, which was more or less a lifetime ago. This should be an adventure!
Much love and thawing your way!
I love the article you wrote on charitable giving, and I would like to share it with others, but I found the pdf file very large and it took forever to download. Can I find it elsewhere on the web in a more compressed form? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI am going to chew on the idea of a masculine spoon for a while today.
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine!
I don't even know what ice dams are, but if you have changed the name to something more profane, then they must be very very bad. I hope they go away and leave you all alone soon! But the panty hoes...
ReplyDeleteC- have you heard of mothers acting up? if not, we should chat.
ReplyDelete