snippets from the week

The past few days have been hot and so the kids and I have kept closer to home this week with the notable exception of our forray into the world of fashion so most of these are from around our own little neighborhood. Except for the one of Will. That was taken (not by me) in the Bronx. But we'll get to that.

Maybe it just....walked away?

Sorry, couldn't help myself. But seriously, those things are big, how do you loose one? Or even steal on from a normally sedate wine bar?

The ZOO! I forgot, we also went to the zoo. The kids loved it, especially the seals. And the penguins. And the lemurs. And the turtles. And the bats. They pretty much loved all of it.

Can you read that on the side there? It says "Follow me on twitter" I love that the sidewalk art guy has twitter followers.
On hot days everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, sprays down their sidewalks. I can't decide if it's to help cool things off or to make sure they don't get stinky in the heat (lots of dog pee, and probably people pee, ya know?) but it sure is a thing around here.
Yesterday was the hottest day since we've been here and being outside for more than 15 minutes had my little girl melting. So we stayed in. Briton built Legos for 6 hours (dedication, man) and Evie and I made granola, washed sheets, read books and played with pastels. She's already much better than I am with the whole blending thing. Her daddy's girl.
I'm really not sure what this is about, but it's stuck to a telephone pole on my street. Any thoughts?

The first casualty of our New York adventure. My phone. Sweaty hands + squirmy kid + sidewalk equals chunks of glass missing. Sigh. Trying to decide if I want to go ahead and get the 4G when my contract is up in July or just get another 3GS. Grrrrr....stupid hot day....
Ahem..So if you've ever wondered what kind of work one does to earn a Master's in Urban Design from Columbia, well, here you go. That is Will wandering around the Bronx wearing a periscope that he and Briton built out of k'nex. For a project. Like, with a grade. Yeah. weird, right?

How was your week? Anything fun planned this weekend? We are going to try to make it out to the Renegade Craft Festival. Plus.....

Someone small is turning FIVE! (She's already found all of her gifts. little rascal) So I've got a rainbow Hello Kitty cake to make as well. Yum yum!

Have a great weekend everyone!

how to make the bottom bunk as cool as the top: a tutorial

When we picked out the much coveted bunk beds, the display model had a tent on the top bunk that Briton immediately NEEDED. And since we were in a "sure, if you'll like New York" state of mind, we bought it. Which caused Evelyn to immediately claim that SHE wanted to be on the top bed. Even if Briton was willing (and having the top bunk was all part and parcel of the whole bunk bed bribe) Evelyn is such a tosser that the top is not an option for her. I often find her sound asleep with her feet on the ground but her head on her pillow. So I quickly jumped in before the tears could start with a "and mom will make you a tent for the bottom! "
And now that the last box has been unpacked it was time to honor that deal (or face the daily question of "when will my tent be ready??") This is, in part, what led to the trip down to the fashion district the other day. Let me just say that the folks at Mood, although perfectly helpful despite a reputation for being snotty, are more used to people who are, say, trying to make something to show Tim Gunn than moms who are making bed tents. I did eventually leave with some basic solid colored cottons for the applique. I forgot, as I mentioned yesterday, thread. And also extra sewing machine needles. And also fusible webbing which, darn it, I really needed for this. But I found away around that, as you'll see. For the main part of the hanging I used some white flannely type stuff that I had leftover from a curtain project. It's heavy and drapes well so it's perfect. Plus I had it on hand.
If you too would like to make a bottom bunk tent (or maybe a door hanging or a table hanging) here's the basic process.

You'll need
3 yards or so of backing fabric (enough to make two of the first measurement)
1/2 yard each of 2 colored cottons (green and red in this instance)
1/2 yard of heavy duty stabilizer
1/4 yard heavy wool felt
1 yard of sew-on, extra strong Velcro
2 yards of fusible webbing (I wish I'd had this, it would have made things easier) or, spray glue (yep)
Thread, sewing machine, notions etc.

Measure across the space between the end post and the ladder and subtract by about 5 inches (to let in a little light - you could go edge to edge if you want) Then measure the drop from the inside edge of the top rail to the bottom edge of the bottom rail (you could go to the floor BUT I think it would attract dust bunnies. Plus, we need access to the under bed area for toy storage) Cut two pieces of the backing fabric to this dimension.
Think of this as a simple quilt. Cut out the door, windows and bushes from the cotton and a small rectangle and matching triangular flap from the felt for a mailbox. Now if you are smart and bought yourself some fusible webbing, iron some on to each piece of cotton and then iron everything but the windows and the mailbox in place on one piece of the backing, setting the other aside. The mailbox should be sturdy enough on it's own and you want it to open so don't use webbing there. As for the windows, we'll get to them. If you, like me, neglect to buy fusible webbing, a light spray of glue and plenty of pins will work in a pinch, although not quite as well. Be sure to keep the glue away from the edges to avoid gumming up your needle.
With your machine set on zig zag with a short stitch length and wide stitch width sew around the sides and top of the door and bushes. Add a doorknob out of felt to the door using the same technique. You don't need to sew across the bottoms because we'll stitch those up later. Also sew around the sides and bottom of the mail box and along the top edge of the flap so that it opens.

Now for the windows.
Cut rectangles the same size as the windows out of the stabilizer. Iron the fabric to the stabilizer and then add a second layer of webbing to the back of the stabilizer. This will make the windows nice and stiff so that they can have cut outs. Iron the windows in place and stitch around the outside edge.

Lay the entire piece out on a flat surface, right side up, and top with the other piece of backing fabric. Pin all the way around and then sew with a short straight stitch all the way around, leaving about 5 inches open to turn it right side out. *hint* don't leave the opening at a corner. I know it seems the easiest since you started at one corner but it's much easier to make nice, neat corners if they are stitched. Instead put it along the top edge, you'll be stitching it shut when you put the Velcro on anyway.

Turn the whole thing right side out and press. You can top stitch around the whole thing if you like. I forgot, but I'll probably go back and do that when I have more thread (just finished when the thread ran out! Whew!)
Using a fabric pencil (or a regular pencil if your fabric pencil is in a box in storage in Virginia and you forgot one of those as well on your trip to Mood) draw in four panes on each window, leaving plenty of space all around for strength. Stitch around the areas that you'll cut and around the "inside" if the window using that same zig-zag stitch. Once you are finished, cut out the panes to create "real" windows.
Pull apart the Velcro and sew the scratchy side along the top edge, closing the hole while you go. Don't be tempted by sticky Velcro. It sucks. It gums up your machine. Just sayin.
To mount the hanging either glue or screw in the soft side of the Velcro along the inside edge of the top rail. Velcro it up and play away! (Yikes, I think that needs to be pressed again!)
And also, tada. The kids room. It small. Yes? I mean SMALL. But actually, it works. All the toys (other than the doll house and her doll high chair and cradle) are in five long underbed bins that slide out easily. The dressers and the bed are both getting painted, the raw wood shows grubby fingerprints but doesn't clean well so paint it will be. The bed butts up to the closet.
We took the door off and the kids use it as their hideout. The top shelf lines up perfectly with Briton's bunk so he can keep things that he doesn't want his sister touching there and because his tent covers most of his bed I don't know when it's not made, which suits both of us.
On the bottom Evie has her "playroom" where her doll furniture is kept and where I've hung her art on the wall. I also hung a stripy blanket from the shelf to the bed to create a ceiling for her and some privacy for him. So they both get what they want. Perfect.

a wee tour

Here is a wee tour of the apartment, or at least most of it. When I was taking the photos I was NOT ALLOWED in the kids room because they were building something (Lego ninja stadium as it turned out) so we'll have to visit that room later. I've got plans for it in the works anyway.

The whole of our place is about the same size as the downstairs of our old house. So, roughly 2/3 the size of the living area but without the benefit of the huge basement for storage, which makes things a little tricky.
First up, the living room. See those yellowy walls? They are driving me nuts. As soon as we get a little more settled into a routine, they are being painted. No matter what time of day I photograph in here, it looks yellow. Yuck. But other than that, it's a pretty good as far as size and shape. I ordered a new rug for this room because our floors are supposed to be 80% covered and the old one wasn't cutting it. Oddly, the bigger rug makes the room look way bigger. Which has me wondering about getting a bigger one for the bedroom as well. Maybe down the road.

We still need some more art on the walls but everything we brought is up, so I'll be on the hunt through the year for a few things to add (always fun)
The only thing I don't like much here (other than the paint) are the heavy grates on the window. Don't get me wrong, I know why they are there, but they make me feel a little like I'm in jail. Beyond them is a fire escape which we can go out on but haven't yet because we don't want the kids to get any ideas. I might put some plants out there though. Also on the list here is to put a small thin shelf behind the couch. We have a ton of boxes sandwiched up back there and so it sits off the wall a bit. Will mentioned that it would be nice to have a place to put coffee mugs and the like so I've got plans to have the hardware store cut a piece of plywood that can be painted and mounted on brackets.
Just off the living room is our room. It's spacious and much lighter, strangely, since it has the same paint and the same number of windows. It must be the grates that cause the living room to look darker. Who knows. We wanted to give the kids this room and I still wish we could because theirs is TINY. But neither of the other rooms can fit a full bed and still have doors that open. Ah well. Because we don't have much extra closet space (meaning none, nada, zilch) I've put the baskets that used to hold our clothes under the bed to hold all of our off season clothes and linens. Also the cat sleeps in them. She changes which bin each time, just to throw the kids off when they come looking. Smart kitty (more on her later)
All of my craft storage is in here in the white boxes along with my machine. Unfortunately the missing box also seems to have my sewing notions in it so my good scissors, all my thread, buttons, snaps and sewing machine accessories are MIA. Rats. Also. the closest fabric store is in the Fashion district WAAAAYY down town. I went there yesterday and it was, well, not like popping out to JoAnn. (both in schlepping and in the type of people shopping there) The fabrics were amazing but I was so overstimulated by choice that I forgot things like thread and extra needles. Double rats. It's a long way down there with two kids.
Our bedroom leads into the office/schoolroom/dining room. It's not as pretty and calming as our old dining room and I miss that, but it pulls triple duty.
During the day the kids have been working on projects there (painting, computer time, puzzles) and it's where Briton and I will do a lot of our work in the fall. For dinner we pull the table out from the wall and round up the chairs. Two office chairs, one kitchen stool and Evie's chair, so we can all eat together.
After dinner back goes the table so that Will can work at his little desk in the corner. Like I said, not super pretty, but functional. And with some more kid art and some plants in the window, I think it will be a pretty fun space for all of us. That thing on the table is part of my spruce the kids room up plan. more on that later.

Ah the kitchen.
Blah.
Will thinks the bathroom is the worst room but (as you'll see) it's not too bad. Old, yes, but in a classic kind of way. It doesn't really bother me. But the kitchen is just plain ugly. The problem with getting to design your kitchen from scratch and then leaving it is that everything else from then on will be not quite as good. And something that is functional but really pretty darn ugly, well, ugg. On the bright side, I've always wanted a comfy chair in the kitchen and this weird too small for a table space seems to work for that. My view is of our bikes, but whatever. I'm heading to the farmers market later today to get some herbs and house plants for that window though, it's begging for it. Also on the bright side, I have about twice as much cupboard space as I used to. Should have brought the waffle iron and the crock pot after all. Live and learn.
And finally, the bathroom. See. It's not too bad. What? Oh, the thing on the toilet? That, my friends is a cat toilet training tray. Yep, toilet training. the litter box was too much to deal with so we got one and are well on our way to having a toilet trained cat. This is not our first foray into cat toilet training, by the way. Will trained the cat we had in collage to use the pot as well and Ella was trained when she was younger. She was hit by a car when she was about a year old and, despite broken hips, miraculously survived and dragged herself home. After she healed we kept her in and trained her, so this is more of a refresher course. I know your jealous. We could be in a circus freak show, right?

And that's about it. You can see the entry hall in one of the living room pics. We're going the shoes off route so most of the time there is a pile of shoes at one end. I need to find a bench to replace that table because it's hard to put on your shoes standing up in a narrow hall, but we'll get to that. I've also asked my woodworker extraordinaire dad to make something like this for me which will solve the winter/fall coat issue that I know is coming as well as the where to put the mail problem. Can't wait.

So, now I need opinions. What else should I do? How many rooms should I paint? The living room for sure and maybe the hall? Can't decide how much work I want to do here. Any ideas for making the kitchen less blahtastic on the cheap? What do we think?

in this city

The summer I turned 18, when High School was over and collage was beckoning but not quite here, I spent eight weeks as an exchange student on the Island of Sardinia off the west coast of Italy. I should have stayed a year but in my teenage angst, I couldn't stand the thought of my friends being ahead of me in collage, which was ludicrous because none of my high school friends we heading off to the same collage as me and I ended up graduating a year early anyway just because I could (overachiever much?)
That entire summer is a hazy, sparkly memory for me. In part because it was straight out of Giget Goes Abroad, complete with beach blankets, guitar melodies and handsome, exotic guys with names like Franco and Gian Carlo. Ahhh.....


Ooops, sorry, I wandered off there.

But the other reason that those months are a bit of a blur is that I was so freaking tired. All the time. The energy it took to just get through the day in a crowded house full of teenagers (four in the family including me, plus an assortment of friends who were ever present) with everyone speaking a language that I not only didn't know, but had never heard of before that summer (that would be Sardo, because they were Sardinians, not Italians, and don't try to convince them otherwise) that, despite the lunch and dinner time espresso, I was exhausted by the end of each day.

I'm finding that the same is true here. By the end of each day I'm so tired I can hardly think. Bodily tired from the walking and mentally tired from the noise and the signs and the people and the cars. And in the morning, after sleeping all night long, I'm still tired. I have a hard time getting up before 8:30 these days, although the dog needing to go out to pee usually gets me out of bed before it's too obscenely late.
I'd suspect yest another return of the dreaded Lyme but Will is just as tired as I am. Even the kids, even Briton who never seems to show signs of exhaustion, are tired by the end of the day. Retreating into their room to play quietly (or bicker loudly if they are really pooped) or just wanting to veg for a bit on the couch.

A friend of mine left just a few weeks before us to spend three or four months in the jungles of China with her three kids while her husband does some work there. I've been following her blog and marvelling at the fact that, while our circumstances are vastly different - her food options, for example, are very limited whereas I quite literally have a world of food right outside the door - the experiences are surprisingly similar. New York is not a foreign country, but then again, it kind of is. It is unlike anywhere else in the US. It's a place where tiny hardware stores that only take cash thrive and vacant lots become play spaces and the most fascinating person you've ever met might be living right above you without you ever knowing.

I've lived in a lot of different places, a lot of different kinds of places. Cities, towns, suburbs, ocean side villages, foreign countries, but none has been quite like the experience of living in this city. Already I have had moments of deep frustration and moments of deep love for this town. Before we moved here I told Will that I would probably grow to like New York, but I would never love it. But I'm not sure that's true anymore. It's exhausting and infuriating and I've never felt the need to take so many showers or said "Eew! Evelyn! Don't touch that" so many times. And yet, barely a week in, I can feel it creeping into my system, this place. I can only wonder what the next 12 months will bring and how I will feel at the end of it when I know we must leave....

yokels in the city - episode one

The first (of many, I'm sure) "yes I'm clearly not from the city" moment came last week. Actually I've probably had several: smiling at people, saying hi to total strangers, etc, but nothing too serious. But on this occasion I got the definite "you poor country mouse" look, so I know I went a little too far.
As you might guess, we're a little bug phobic in our house at the moment, what with the recent lyme infecting tick thing. Will, in particular (as the bearer of the brunt of the Lyme - meaning he had pull double duty on everything for a while there) is especially, um, sensitive, about small creepy crawlies. There has been some obsessive tick checking of late every time we so much as go near a tree. But being in the city had chilled him out a little. After all, ticks? In New York City? Not likely.

So when, a few evenings ago, I heard his panicky call of "come here quick!" I wasn't really sure what I'd find when I emerged from under the pile of boxes I was unpacking. A terrible news story about our neighborhood (it's not wise, we've found, to watch the news here), a new array of Evie scrawling on the wall? A penitant looking dog or child and a pee puddle on the floor?

No, it was "a tick" on Will's shirt. He'd spotted it while lounging on the couch after a walk with the dog. I knew the drill, grab the toilet paper, smoosh the tick and flush it far, far away from our skin. But as I grabbed it I though, "humm, I've never seen a tick that shape before." I should have stopped there, but, you know, I was the Lyme girl, so I'm pretty icked out by ticks myself.

After it had been flushed away I pondered aloud about the strange pointy end of the tick. "Have you ever seen a tick that wasn't round?" I asked. Out came the iphone (always at the ready) for a search.

Not a tick.

Worse.

A bedbug.

Now, if you imagine the shiver inducing, nausea creating reaction that I have when I see a tick, multiply that by ten and you'll understand how I feel about bedbugs. Before we moved here I did ample research on them and bought myself a brand spankin new Dyson vacuum because I read that vacuuming well and often was the key to keeping them at bay (ok, it might have partly been an excuse to buy a Dyson). Bedbugs were like the big bad wolf in the forest of New York.

We called the super in a panic, were told they'd send a guy up the next day and then proceeded to blow all of the money on our new laundry machine card washing every sheet, blanket and slipcovers we brought.

The next day, while Will was at class, our doorbell rang. By the way, this hasn't happened before because you have to buzz your way up. I actually thought it was the main door and shouted (It's an ooooooold call box) into the speaker only to hear a "pest control" from the other side of my door. (Yokel moment number one)

The poor man came in and patiently listened to my story and all of the theories that Will and I had come up with since finding the bug. Maybe they were living in the air conditioners that we rented? Or the Radiators? Or they crawled in from the apartment next door? They couldn't have come with us, right? Could we possibly have an infestation after four days in our apartment? (This would be yokel moment number two, panicked oversharing)

"Can I see the bug you found?" He asked.

Uhhhh. Was I supposed to save it? (Yokel moment number three)

After giving me a kind but exasperated "idiot" look, Pest Control Man explained that they had fumigated the apartment just days before we moved in and then he showed me the little (totally empty) traps that he had left under the radiators around the apartment. But still, would I like him to check the couch?

Yes please.

OK, now here's where I got a little too small town in the city. While the guy patiently (and totally unnecessarily) took apart my entire couch I didn't know what to do, so I stood there and tried to chat with him. Because, I don't know, are you just supposed to stand there and watch? He looked up, clearly thinking I was some alien being who couldn't shut up and went back to work. So then I did just stand there. stack of books in hand (I was color sorting my bookshelf because * Will, who makes fun of this habit, asked me to do it since he couldn't find the books he wanted in the random jumble! HA!)

I'm still not entirely clear about what you do when someone is doing work in your oh so small, no where to go and hide, apartment. Ideas? And when I saw him in the elevator today (I guess he works for the University, or lives in our building, not sure which) he had a sort of "oh crap here comes that crazy chatty girl" look on his face. I tried to nod nonchalantly and pushed the button for my floor, not saying a word.

Now this is not to say that I find New York unfriendly. Quite the opposite. Other than the ladies who work at the checkout counter in the swanky and beautiful Westside Market down the street, people have been overwhelmingly nice. From the guy at the hardware store who cut plywood down to make shelves for my pantry to the garbage man who told me "good morning" as I walked the dog today to the charming couple I met in the paygarden last night, New Yorkers seem, on the whole, to be a very kind and helpful bunch. But methinks it will be a while before I can pull off "yeah, I'm a city gal" realistically. Although, someone did stop to ask me directions this weekend. That's got to be a sign. Right?

snippets from the week

I know that the whole 365 days of photos thing has been out there for a while, and I really wish that I could undertake something that regular. But let's face it, I can't always get around to taking a shower so I don't think I'd be very good at making sure to take a good solid photo each day. Still, I love the idea. And one of the promises I've made to myself about this year in the city is to carry my camera with me more often. I tend to avoid being out an about with a big old camera, or even a small one, because I hate to look like a tourist. But in a city with, how many million people live here? Eight Million? Nine? Something like that, and well, who really cares if I look like a tourist here. Right?

So I'm going to try to dig deep into my memory and try to drudge up those old photojournalism skills from my J-school days and offer up a glimpse of our week through photos. They might not be precisely one a day, and at times (I hope) they will be taken by the kids so you can see New York as they see it, but hopefully it will be fun for you and for me. So here goes.

(Ahem, all that being said, most of these are from my phone, because I haven't quite got the hang of schlepping kids, a dog, groceries, a purse, a folded up or opened up stroller- depending on the time of day -and whipping out the good camera at the same time. But that will come. I hope.)

Snippets From Week One

Saying goodbye on one train

And hello on another
Unpacking, unpacking, unpacking
Trash or beauty?
Beauty for sure

Portland Coffee! Right around the corner. Ahhhhh....
And a farmer's market too!

What did you do this week? Are you doing some kind of 365 project? Link it in the comments so we can see how your week went!

homeschooling, day one

Or sort of. I told Briton that we wouldn't officially start "school" until August, but in reality I'm planning to squeeze things in all summer. Because, after all, we only have a year here, got to take advantage of everything we can.
In the weeks before our move, I did as much research as I could squeeze in (between the packing and the Lyme, it wasn't really as much as I wanted to do, but it's a start) on homeschool in New York. At first everything I came across was about homeschooling laws which is something I'm going to have to tackle soon - New York is fairly strict when it comes to regulating homeschooling - but for now I can't wrap my head around that end. After some more digging I came across the New York City Home Educators Association. In addition to the message boards and announcements about events in the city and group meetings, they also hold a monthly get=together for big group events, Art Shows, Science Fairs etc. This month it was Field Day.
Although I'm quite a social person and my kids are both social butterflies, we all have a hard time diving into a crowd of strangers and making friends and I almost let that side get the better of me this morning and passed up the whole Field Day thing. And also, I hate field day. I hated it as a kid and I'm not a big fan now. A combination of my dislike for hot weather (which it always is on Field Day) and my decidedly un-sports coordination always made it a day to dread. But in the end we went and I'm so glad because, as I said yesterday, we need friends, immediately.
Now perhaps this was a fluke. Maybe it was the day or it's just this city or it was purely the hours that we were there, but man, there are a LOT of 8-10 year old boys being homeschooled. We walked in to find the soccer field (on a pier! How cool is that?) filled with sweaty, active boys all Briton's age. And while he resisted all my attempts to hook him up with a boy who was at the playgarden last night he jumped right in with the game and pretty much didn't talk to me the rest of the afternoon. As for Evelyn, well, she met a girl in a pink shirt and had her face painted to be a pink kitty. So she was set too.
I'm not crazy enough to think that all our homeschool days will be fun and easy like today. Does Field Day really even count as school? Probably not. Over the next few weeks I'm hoping to sit down and plan out a more structured (but not too structured) curriculum for our year and I'm well aware that there will be many, many challenging days. But for now it's nice to know that day one was a success.