We have bought a new dresser (on Craigslist) for my little girl. Her old dresser was falling apart and the drawers were fairly hard to pull out and push back in again.
Well, since I wouldn't use it for clothing any more, I thought that maybe somebody wanted it for his/her shop or garage, just to store stuff. It has ten drawers. So I posted it on Craigslist under "free stuff". (You can go and see the ad under Sat, May 30th on Richmond Craisglist, if you are quick. I intend to pull it soon.)
Wehell...
I used to belong to our local Freecycle.org group here in Rmnd. But I eventually gave it up, because I just had bad experiences with annoying people. However well I thought I described the item, there always were people not showing up or showing up but not taking the item, because it was not what they had imagined it to be. I was hoping that Craigslist would be better, mostly because you can post pics. So I took a pic and added a description, more or less warning people that the thing was falling apart. However, the pic somehow made the dresser look GOOD! It looked seriously good and my mailbox was overflowing with mails from people who were clamoring for it.
Since I am an honest soul, I explained in my emails once again that the dresser was falling apart and that it probably would be ok as a storage unit in a workshop, but not for clothing. And every one of the interested parties withdrew. Every one of them. Do those folks not read the initial post, or what?
We ended up putting it in our garage. My dh now stores nails etc in it.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
No TV
Like I said, my children are watching a lot less TV than they used to.
We never watched all that much lately. At least I am trying to tell myself that.
We were never background tv people. Those are the ones who have the TV on constantly to provide some background noise. Sort of like a radio. We at least never did that.
During his first 18 months, my son didn't watch TV at all. But then my daughter was born. (They are 20 months apart.) And I was just totally overworked with two small children. That's when I turned on the TV, just to have some time to do some basic household chores. I think I was always trying to limit their TV time, but there also have been days when they watched for two, three hours. (I like to think that it was not too often.)
Now, I can't really defend that. I just can say that in spite of playgroups etc, you still don't have the support you would have if you live close to (a lot of devoted) family members.
A long time during my upbringing, I grew up living on the same property (but not in the same house) like my grandparents. My father had three siblings, so aunts, uncles and cousins were constantly around. They all lived in the same small town. (That's Europe for you.) There was a real neighborhood. People in my town have known each other for generations. And since it was an agricultural area, a lot of the daily work went on outside, so there was always someone around, when we as children played outside. I don't think anybody could have snatched us away.
Anyway, since a lot of people just don't have those resources, the TV has to play babysitter sometimes.
But a week ago, I decided that I didn't want to let them watch TV anymore, at least not their usual hour a day.
In the beginning, it was rough. But now they seem to have gotten used to it. While they do monopolize quite a bit more of my time, they also play together more.
We never watched all that much lately. At least I am trying to tell myself that.
We were never background tv people. Those are the ones who have the TV on constantly to provide some background noise. Sort of like a radio. We at least never did that.
During his first 18 months, my son didn't watch TV at all. But then my daughter was born. (They are 20 months apart.) And I was just totally overworked with two small children. That's when I turned on the TV, just to have some time to do some basic household chores. I think I was always trying to limit their TV time, but there also have been days when they watched for two, three hours. (I like to think that it was not too often.)
Now, I can't really defend that. I just can say that in spite of playgroups etc, you still don't have the support you would have if you live close to (a lot of devoted) family members.
A long time during my upbringing, I grew up living on the same property (but not in the same house) like my grandparents. My father had three siblings, so aunts, uncles and cousins were constantly around. They all lived in the same small town. (That's Europe for you.) There was a real neighborhood. People in my town have known each other for generations. And since it was an agricultural area, a lot of the daily work went on outside, so there was always someone around, when we as children played outside. I don't think anybody could have snatched us away.
Anyway, since a lot of people just don't have those resources, the TV has to play babysitter sometimes.
But a week ago, I decided that I didn't want to let them watch TV anymore, at least not their usual hour a day.
In the beginning, it was rough. But now they seem to have gotten used to it. While they do monopolize quite a bit more of my time, they also play together more.
It's getting warmer
Haven't written in a while. Mostly because I seem to have less time. I have decided a while ago that the kiddos won't watch TV anymore, except in emergency cases. So I hardly have a chance to drop a note during the days.
I am only writing now because my daughter is napping and my son is playing for himself. Whohoo...
Well, since it is getting warmer, here come some of my ponderings:
How to make do in Richmond, VA without antiperspirant!
Yucky? Certainly. But my mother and her aunt, my grandmother's sister, had breastcancer. And since I am in danger, I will most certainly try to avoid everything that could even be remotely dangerous. And antiperspirant has been discussed in that respect.
First of all: Forget all I wrote about only showering two or three times a week. That was in winter. I do shower more often in summer. I am a big believer in sunscreen, spending time outside and not having the air conditioning at 72 degrees year round, so I do get sweaty and grimy. (I do however challenge myself how long I can make it without.)
:-)
To get off to a good start: It gets a lot easier if you don't consume any caffeine. I am not only talking about coffee, but also about (green) tea and chocolate. The latter is sometimes hard to avoid, since it is not considered as a caffeine carrier, but believe me, it is. After not having consumed caffeine in quite a while, a piece of chocolate has the same effect on me as a cup of java.
You might get withdrawal symptoms, when you quit caffeine. I know I get them. Usually splitting headaches, sweating and grumpiness. I also get deadly tired at weird times during the day.
I was told that stinging nettle tea helps, when detoxing from caffeine and for me it certainly did.
Now, when you don't consume caffeine, you might sweat less and your sweat will not end up stinking as fast. At least that's how it works for me.
Now to the deodorants. I strive to keep it all natural. Herbs like sage and lavender are antibacterial. Burt's Bees Sage deodorant is nice, although it seems to me that it is more suited for guys. (I have however used it for a while.) Weleda has a nice selection, and currently I am using their citrus based deodorant.
Sweat stains: Yep, that can be a problem, especially if you wear backpacks. Powder is always good for soaking up sweat. I like Burt's Bees baby powder which doesn't contain talcum. Lose fitting clothes are best, made out of natural materials. Non stretchy fabrics seem to me to be better than sweats. Patterns are better than mono colors. (Patterns hide stains.)
Last but not least: Sage is supposedly a sweat inhibitor. I was told that drinking lots of sage tea would be good. I have however not had a chance to do that.
I am only writing now because my daughter is napping and my son is playing for himself. Whohoo...
Well, since it is getting warmer, here come some of my ponderings:
How to make do in Richmond, VA without antiperspirant!
Yucky? Certainly. But my mother and her aunt, my grandmother's sister, had breastcancer. And since I am in danger, I will most certainly try to avoid everything that could even be remotely dangerous. And antiperspirant has been discussed in that respect.
First of all: Forget all I wrote about only showering two or three times a week. That was in winter. I do shower more often in summer. I am a big believer in sunscreen, spending time outside and not having the air conditioning at 72 degrees year round, so I do get sweaty and grimy. (I do however challenge myself how long I can make it without.)
:-)
To get off to a good start: It gets a lot easier if you don't consume any caffeine. I am not only talking about coffee, but also about (green) tea and chocolate. The latter is sometimes hard to avoid, since it is not considered as a caffeine carrier, but believe me, it is. After not having consumed caffeine in quite a while, a piece of chocolate has the same effect on me as a cup of java.
You might get withdrawal symptoms, when you quit caffeine. I know I get them. Usually splitting headaches, sweating and grumpiness. I also get deadly tired at weird times during the day.
I was told that stinging nettle tea helps, when detoxing from caffeine and for me it certainly did.
Now, when you don't consume caffeine, you might sweat less and your sweat will not end up stinking as fast. At least that's how it works for me.
Now to the deodorants. I strive to keep it all natural. Herbs like sage and lavender are antibacterial. Burt's Bees Sage deodorant is nice, although it seems to me that it is more suited for guys. (I have however used it for a while.) Weleda has a nice selection, and currently I am using their citrus based deodorant.
Sweat stains: Yep, that can be a problem, especially if you wear backpacks. Powder is always good for soaking up sweat. I like Burt's Bees baby powder which doesn't contain talcum. Lose fitting clothes are best, made out of natural materials. Non stretchy fabrics seem to me to be better than sweats. Patterns are better than mono colors. (Patterns hide stains.)
Last but not least: Sage is supposedly a sweat inhibitor. I was told that drinking lots of sage tea would be good. I have however not had a chance to do that.
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