SortaCrunchy

Two Thousand Eight

I'm savoring the lull between Christmas and New Years.

Indulging in unspoken permission to lollygag through the last days of 2008, all while making big plans for the year to come.

If you know me at all, you know I am nothing if not reflective.  I absolutely love the year-end Countdown to the Biggest! Thing! of The Past Year! articles and programs that litter the collective streets of the nation this time of year.  Seriously, love them.  Adore them so much that I simply cannot resist sharing my own look back with everyone.   

The Bigs and Littles of the Year Gone By

Best Read: Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
I started the year reading this with my Prayer Coffee group in Texas.  This is by far the most powerful writing on marriage I've read in the past ten years.  Extremely challenging but inspiring at the same time.  The chapter titled "Make Me a Servant" haunts, convicts, infects, and motivates me daily.  The question on the cover of the book asks, "What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?"  How's that for making you squirm a bit?  Throughout the book, Thomas invites believers to recognize that God can work out His amazing plans for redemption and grace through the covenant He created to bind two people together for a lifetime.  I highly, highly recommend this one.

Honorable Mention in this category is Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicalsby Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw.  Did the endless talk, talk, talk of the campaign leave you a little jaded and cynical?  This book is a brilliant breath of fresh air that will upend what you thought you knew the Bible says (and doesn't say) about the kingdoms of the earth.  Oh, it's challenging (can you tell I like a good challenge?) and if you allow it, maybe a little life-changing.

Best Album: Patty Griffin's Impossible Dream
Now, clearly, this is not a new release.  Patty Griffin is new to me, however, and I have to say thank you, thank you again to my dear friend Melissa for recommending this one as an introduction to Patty.  I have listened to, thought about, and walked around with these songs since last spring, and I find myself still getting chills of appreciation for her lovely poetry of her lyrics and the powerful, passionate diversity of the music.   "Love Throws a Line" is perfect for dancing to while doing the dishes.  "When It Don't Come Easy" captures what my heart would sing to my husband this year, if my heart could sing.  (It can't.  Just like my vocal chords and pitchy ear.)  "Mother of God" takes my breath away, and "Florida" makes me crave cigarettes and coffee like crazy, and I haven't smoked in well over four years.  Over all, just amazing, amazing music. 

Best Gift

    Practical: Sister Emily gave us a video monitor to soothe Mommy and Daddy's nerves when D made the big move from crib to Big Girl Bed earlier this year.  (Oh wow.  D was still a crib dweller this time last year!  I think I might cry.)  LOVE THIS.  It has to be one of the best ideas evah.  And actually it has been put to much better use in keeping an eye on AJ than on the Big Sister.  Of course.

    Fanciful: Remember back in May when I asked for your musical recommendations?  So many of you came through with a bounty of great directions to take, but my wonderful long-time friend Laura astounded me with two CDs brimming with her favorite tunes.  What. A. Gift.  Without her, how would I have ever day-dreamed to Guy Clark's "Magnolia Wind," sung terrible duets with my husband to Sarah Harmer's "Around This Corner" (that's his favorite in the mix), or grinned goofily along with Bright Eyes' "First Day of My Life"?  Oh, ya'll.  The mix tape/CD/whatever-the-incarnation-these-days is such a dying art!  

Best Blogging Discovery: Small Notebook
Last spring, Rachel of Small Notebook and I connected through our blogs.  After reading just a couple of posts, I was absolutely delighted with all that I read and saw there.  Delighted but shocked that no one else was mentioning this absolute jewel of a blog.  The simple and lovely ink drawings, her amazing gift for capturing everyday life in pictures, her practical advice on everything from composting to the wisdom of renting . . . I loved every bit of it.  And Rachel herself was so charming, friendly, and accessible.  I knew it wouldn't be long before she really took off.  I was right.  Upon my return to blogging last fall, I was thrilled to find that Rachel's readership had exploded and that over two thousand people (and counting!) are now reading Small Notebook daily.  I look so forward to her Daily Features which are always meaningful, and sometimes find when I have a decision to make (should I watch TV tonight or not?) that I will, in all honesty, ask myself, "What would Rachel do?"  True story.  I totally want to be Rachel when I grow up.

Best Show on PBS KIDS: Word Girl
We don't really allow the girls to watch much commercial TV (a decision made so much easier when we cut cable back to the bare-bones-so-basic-you-have-to-ask-for-it package), but we do love ourselves some PBS Kids.  LOVE.  No commercials, lots of literacy.  My favorite of the year is one that kind of annoyed me to begin with, but I have grown to love - the clever and witty vocabulary-enriching stylings  of Word Girl.  OETA shows Word Girl at the end of the kids' broadcast, at 4:30 in the afternoon, and it's just what this nearly-brain-dead-by-then mama needs.  The writing is amusing and The Narrator makes me giggle.  And it REALLY DOES help kids learn new words.  D is forever asking me things like, "What does redundant mean?"  Word Up!

Honorable Mention in this category: Sid the Science Kid, a new show this season from The Jim Henson Company, is lots of fun and has spurred more than "science experiment" in the SortaCrunchy Casa.  Also?  We love the dancing.

Best Movie: ummmmmmmmmmmm. hmmmmmm.  Lots of swings and misses for us.  How 'bout you?

Best on TV: Still never miss The Office.  In love with Life.  That's all that comes to mind.

Best in natural living goodness: Oil Cleansing Method
I know I wrote about OCM back in May, but it's been on my mind again a lot as the cruelties of winter have caused me - even me (she of the grease-prone skin) - to have dry skin woes.  I was reminded after a recent run-in with a bar of Dove how drying even a little soap can be.  It's back to OCM for me, maybe with a tad more olive oil in the mix than before.  What?  You still haven't tried it?  Well the holidays are nearly over, and January seems like as good a time as any to try new things.  What are you waiting for? 

Good stuff/Bad stuff 
It's been an unforgettable, life-changing year in the life of my family.  From euphoric hope for a new life imagined to crippling despair in the new life played out, change has been the only constant.  Miraculous, long prayed for things have happened in my marriage.  Good stuff beyond belief.  But with all of that has come a rawness, a humbling beyond what I could have imagined.  And yes, I'm still homesick for Texas, still trying to fit in as The New Girl, still mourning - every day, in a hundred little ways - the loss of the community of friends I love so much.  I'm choosing to believe that all the fallow ground that's been tilled in the past year will not be laid to waste; that I'll choose to surrender the fragile freshness here as something open and receptive to planting.

The Year Ahead
My mind spins with the possibilities for 2009.  I do so love standing on the brink of the New Year.

In the year ahead, I 
* hope the economy turns around
* know that I will find God trustworthy even if it doesn't
* want to grow in the practice of photography
* desire to get serious about how I spend my time
* look forward to knowing my husband even more
* would love to lay the groundwork for a community of moms at home, praying for and encouraging one another
* will send D off to school, real school, in August
* would love to get AJ at least night-weaned; a full night's sleep would be so nice
* (and this is so big and exciting and scary I can hardly bear it) will join with my dear friend/writing partner/mind twin Laura and take the next step in a writing project we are both passionate about by taking some real risks; risks like daring to use the word book in conversations outside of our own heads and writing query letters to agents (!!!)

Thanks for indulging me in this list.

Now what about you?  Favorites and Bests and Worsts to share?  Oh, please humor me!  I want to know how your 2008 will shake down when it's all said and done.  I would love to read your lists (make sure to leave comment with a link if you write up your own post).

Photo courtesy dps

Shivering, snuggling, and semi-sabbatical

First of all, I am happy to announce the winner of the Save Handmade giveaway: Becky of The Newson Narrative!  I've used Random.orgto select the winning number for every giveaway I've ever done, and I've never had it pick Numero Uno until today.  I guess, statistically speaking, it was bound to happen.  Congrats, Becky!  Now the rest of ya'll . . . keep shopping stores like LeakyMouth and do your part to support handmade!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I have to confess.  I've been feeling a wee bit grumpy since this blast of arctic air came barreling down the plain Sunday evening.  One might even say curmudgeonly.  It's almost as if I started to believe I was actually raised in the sunny hills south of Austin and not up here where the waving wheat can sure smell sweet and it's not at all unusual to actually put away your sandals and flip-flops before Christmas.  It only took four idyllic years of life in the Hill Country to erase an entire childhood's worth of memories of what winter really feels like.  If you'll recall, I was born in Houston, so I suppose somewhere deep within me is a person who is completely at peace with seasons which are Mild, Warm, Hot, and Someone Kill Me Please, Before This Heat Does.

So what with the crankiness and all, it's probably for the best that I resume my aforementioned hiatus and just lay low a bit.  And, actually, I was just reading (link via a tweet from Amy of MomAdvice) that when it comes to blogging, what you don't say may be just as important as what you do publish. 

I think what I really need to do is focus on gratitude for scenes like this one I found in the hall this morning

while I focus my creative energies on projects long shoved to the side.

Oh, that's not say I'll be completely silent through the end of the year.  With some gentle persuasion, I was able to coax out of Santa that I would, in fact, be receiving the Nifty Fifty and PSE 7 that I have been droooooooooooooooooling over for months, so I suppose I'll be showing up now and again with some new favorite shots. 

Speaking of favorite shots, my Flickr photostream is up and active (and please do remember these shots are all so very straight out of the camera), and yes, I've succumbed to Twitter, so you can see what I'm doing there.  And there's my Tumblr page.  So, see?  You'll hardly know I'm gone.

Fifty-six days . . .

. . . and counting until mandatory toy compliance certification is required.

And maybe handmade toys aren't your bag.  And that's fine.  But how about hair bows?  Maybe sweet little burp cloths?  Charm bracelets?  Unique baby and children's clothing?  Because as Heather Nolte writes in her article "National Bankruptcy Day.  Will the CPSIA affect you?":

All products that are marketed or could be perceived as being marketed to children under 12 years old.  This is NOT limited to toys.  It includes many items including clothing, jewelry, shoes, books, dinnerware, hair accessories, sunglasses, furniture, art materials, and musical instruments to name a few.

So the span of this act reaches far beyond just toys. 

I wanted to point out two more resources for you

1) Jeremiah at Z Recommends wrote up a super helpful article on Five Steps You Can Take to Save Natural and Handmade Companies, and his information includes important phone numbers for those who want to make their voice heard literally, as well as petition signing opportunities.

2) Cool Mom Picks has created a Save Handmade resources page which contains more activism information and the super cute advocacy button I'm now sporting in the sidebar.  (Also in the sidebar, a Change.org petition widget.  Go ahead!  Click and sign!)

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway which will reward one awesome reader for supporting the handmade cause.  Winner announced tomorrow.

Troubleshooting and Testing (with a big dose of GRRRRRR)

It was brought to my attention today that SortaCrunchy's feed has been sick.  Emails have not been delivered, RSS wasn't updating, that sort of thing.

After a quick look around, I discovered the problem was a mistake I made in publishing my friend Diana's beautiful and moving story of creating a family through adoption . . . I had copied and pasted in the text from a Microsoft word processor and apparently, that made my feed quite ill.

The most troubling and upsetting part of fixing my feed was that the original publication of Diana's story, along with all of the kind and lovely comments that were left for her, had to be deleted.  I have put the post back up and I thought I was going to be able to copy and paste the comments back in, but I made the huge, gigantic mistake of deleting the post before I could copy the comments out of Typepad Connect. 

<insert much wailing and gnashing of teeth>

If you have a few minutes in the next few days, I do hope you'll revisit Diana's story and re-share and re-capture some of the beautiful things you shared the first time around.  (Leah and Julie, your cooments were particularly meaningful to me, and I am sure to Diana as well.)

Additionally, some (but not all?) of you may have missed some posts, including an activism opportunity/giveaway, so feel free to click around and see what's been going on while my feed has been under the weather.

Thanks for putting up with my bumbling foolishness.

(photo which pretty well illustrates my state of mind at the moment courtesy of darkpatator)

Simplifying the Help Save Handmade Toys Giveaway

In reflecting on the way I set up the giveaway to encourage ya'll to help save handmade toys, I've come to the conclusion that as much as I want to spread the word as quickly as possible, it's also possible that many of you simply don't have time in this busy, busy month to share with your friends and family about the Handmade Toys Alliance cause.

Will it help if I make it simpler?

I discovered THIS AMAZING WIDGET at Fashion Incubator which allows you to write your legislators with your concerns about the CPSIA simply by filling out some information on a form.  Forget five minutes, girls.  You can do this in less than one minute!  (In order for the form to find the correct Congress Person for you, you may need your ZIP +4, which you can quickly look up here.) 

I'm also amending the parameters of the giveaway.  All I really want you to do is make your voice heard to your legislators, so if you'll just leave me a comment letting me know you've done that, you will be entered in the giveaway!  If you do email/blog/twitter/facebook about how we can work together to save handmade toys and tell me about that in a comment, consider it a bonus entry in the drawing.

There are so many questions swirling around this legislation.  Will it affect children's clothing?  What about slings?  Cloth diapers?  How many hundreds or thousands of artisans will be impacted by the enactment of the CPSIA?  Do we really want to live in a country where it would be illegal for me to buy this little mama for my daughter?

So, again.  It's simple.  Two minutes, tops.  I'm excited to give away some fun surprise rocks, but more than anything, I'm asking you - in the midst of a season of bells and whistles, of batteries and plastic, of mass-produced and unimagined - to stand up for art, artisans, children, and creative souls everywhere. 

They are counting on us.  Let's don't let them down.

(photo courtesy Sammi Co)

Got Five Minutes? Help Save Handmade Toys! (giveaway, too)

Generally, I try to stay quiet during an official hiatus (unless something really big happens), but yesterday the amazing Amy of Crunchy Domestic Goddess made me aware of something I feel strongly that you need to know about.

In response to the alarming number of toy recalls in 2007 in which toys that contained dangerous amounts of lead and other harmful chemicals or posed other safety risks to our children were pulled from store shelves, the United States Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August 2008.  This act is certainly a first step towards protecting our children from harmful or dangerous products in that it mandates more rigorous testing of the toys we allow into our homes.

The CPSIA, however, would also impose such a terrible financial burden on any maker of toys that small, cottage-industry toymakers in the USA, Canada, and Europe will be driven out of business.  Please take just a moment to read through the information provided by the Handmade Toy Alliance.  This alliance has outlined a proposal which would protect handmade toys created in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

Time is of the essence.  As of today, December 9th, 2008, there are only sixty-four days until mandatory toy testing certification is required. 

Do you have five minutes?  Here's what you can do!

(NOW REVISED!)

Contact your Congress Person and Senators to request the proposed changes to the CPSIA that will protect handmade toys.  The Handmade Toy Alliance has even created a sample letter you can use to make your voice heard. 

(THE EASIEST WAY TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS - use this amazingly simply widget which allows you to contact each legislator all at once.  You'll need your zip +4 - look it up here.  Thank you to Fashion Incubator for the widget link!)

As my own way of saying thank you for helping to protect the makers and vendors of handmade toys, I am offering a giveaway for USA readers (with many apologies to my Canadian and other international friends; I'll be sure to include you in the next go 'round!).

If you will

1) take five minutes to contact your Congress Person and Senators making them aware of the threat posed to makers and vendors of handmade toys by the CPSIA and requesting the proposed changes to the legislation

and

2) BONUS ENTRY - spread the word in some way (twitter, facebook, blog, email listserv, email family and friends, message boards, etc.) about The Handmade Toy Alliance and their proposal

and

3) and leave me a comment here telling me what action you have taken to help save handmade toys, then you will be entered to win this VERY COOL set of Surprise Rocks from the LeakyMouth Etsy store.  Don't those look like so much fun?  I think both kids and grown-ups would have a great time with these!  (who doesn't like to smash stuff?)

Giveaway ends December 15th, 2008.  Feel free to spread the word about this giveaway if you want, but it's not a requirement to enter.

Thanks for joining me in protecting our handmade toy makers and vendors!

(cute octopi picture courtesy of firepile)

Year-End Hiatus

Hang around here long enough and you'll discover I feel the need to break from blogging about twice a year. 

The month of December invites indulgence in all manner of fun and reflection that comes 'round only once a year.  I want to be able to experience it all with the "compose" screen in my mind turned off, and the only way I can be fully present and fully intentional is by silencing the "is this bloggable?" question with a nice hiatus.

(Ugly to admit, but completely true.)

In the meantime, should I come across anything I don't want you to miss, you will see it on my Tumblr page.  For those of you who come around simply to see pictures of Big and Little (and who can blame you?), I'll be putting up a Flickr badge in the sidebar in the next few days so you can keep up with their cuteness.

From the SortaCrunchy cottage to yours, sending lots of wishes for meaningful celebrations in the coming days.  Hope you have a big ol' cup full of memories when we meet again in the new year.

(isn't that photo amazing?  Courtesy of Shermee via Flickr Creative Commons)

The Bwessing

Dear Heavendy God,

DANKyou for Mama and

DANKyou for Daddy and

DANKyou for Wiza and

DANKyou for evafing.

In Desus Name we pway,

Amen.

{picture removed}

(Click here to visit other members of the gratitude community hosted by Holy Experience)

On my heart today

I can't remember exactly when it was that I crossed paths with Alana.  Did I find her blog first, or did she come across mine before that?  I think at first I was just giddy over finding a sister in the world of blogging (because I tend to be silly like that), but I quickly realized that the real sisterhood in which we are connected outshines and outlives anything of mere fraternal bonds.  This sister of my faith, this amazing follower of Christ, immediately felt like a friend I had known for years.

For over a year, I've felt so fortunate to get to know Alana.  To be inspired by her commitment to green and responsible living, to be encouraged in the world of crafting (note that she actually does all those neat projects that I only ooooh and ahhhh over), to celebrate the arrival of their newest little one, and to join with her in reflecting on the important things in life.

Today, my heart is with Alana and her husband as they mark the anniversary of loss in their lives; a loss so cavernous, I can't find words.  Today, anything I wanted to talk about seems so trivial and trite.  Today, I continue to be so moved by Alana's courage in sharing such pain with such a diverse audience. 

I'm closing comments here today and inviting you to meet Alana (if you haven't already).  Please share with her whatever you feel led to share.  I know Alana's heart is to speak the truth of Grace to anyone who is suffering, so please don't click away from Gray Matters without reading her testimony of God's Grace.

and we're back . . . sorta.

U.S.A. mamas - is life back to normal where you are?

We aren't quite there yet.  In addition to recovering (mentally, physically, emotionally) from Thanksgiving, it seems I've managed to inherit the just-will-not-leave cold AJ has been battling for a week.  I'm not sure if it's the shivery thirty degree wind chill or the fever that's causing me to feel so chilled and glassy, but I would sure love to be back to a semblance of normal soon.

(One has to wonder, too, if the sudden onset of dramatic sleep disturbances D has been subject to in the past two nights could also be contributing to my ongoing duller.  She wakes about an hour and a half after going to sleep and thrashes and squirms and whimpers and cries for Mommy Mommy Mommy repeatedly, despite the fact that I am right next to her, trying in vain to comfort.  Then back to sleep, only to wake in thirty minutes hysterical again.  This goes on for hours.  Insight?  Advice?  Wisdom?  All are welcome.)

Plus, I always feel just a little sad when harvest gives way to twinkle lights.  I love Christmas, of course, but there is so much about fall that I absolutely live for all year.  Marching bands and football games.  Baked apples and back-to-school butterflies.  The regal earth tones of autumn that I find ever appealing.

Mixed in with that is the underlying foreboding knowledge than in less than a month, the celebrations of Christmas will be over and the long stretch of winter will become day-to-day reality.

Perhaps I will need to continue in the mindset of gratitude that my friend Laura inspired me to with her 33 days of grateful.

So.

Where was I?

Oh, yes.  Seeking out recovery on the first of December.  I can't tell you how blessed I was by this, the first line of Rachel of Small Notebook's Come As You Are: Christmas Without the Frenzy: "I’m not getting organized for Christmas this year.  I think I’m just going to show up for it."  That. That, my friends, will be my mantra for the next month.

Something I'll be looking forward to in each month of the new year is participating in Simple Mom's Sound Mind, Sound Mom Book Club.  She released the reading list, and I am thrilled to see Shaunti Feldhahn's For Women Only on the list.  This book informed so much of how I relate to my husband.  I really believe it is a must-read for all women.  And I have been hearing such great buzz over Last Child in the Wilderness: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder.  I am the most excited about that selection!

I'm off to sip some more Organic Throat Coat, but one last note - Typepad finally created a threaded comments option for Typepad bloggerslast month.  I gave it a try and almost immediately realized it was not for me.  What do I have to add, really, to your intriguing insights?  I know many bloggers use threaded comments (or just commenting in the comments section) as a way of furthering conversation and I love that.  It's just not for me.  I like furthered conversations in the intimate arena that email affords, where sometimes deeper insights and authenticity are revealed.  In fact, the main reason I moved here from Blogger was to be able to reply to comments via email and as far as I can tell, threaded comments do not allow for that.  So, back to basics for me.

In the meantime, how ya'll?