The "Most" of 2013

I've seen several bloggers doing a list of "Most" posts for 2013 and decided I'd like to do one too.  I spent an hour last week going through my blog (it took longer than I expected because when I merged the two blogs earlier this fall, everything from the other blog migrated here too).  See the full link up list here.

So the list includes the post with the most clicks, the post with the most comments, the best picture, the hardest post to write, and my personal favorite.  I'd love it if the comments section included your favorite post!

The post with the most clicks turned out to be my We Can Do It!: Mid-Century Dressing post on dressing vintage.  It turned out to be a sort of sartortial manifesto, one I was pleased to be able to expand on further in my guest post later in the fall.  Both posts taught me a lot about outfit pictures, and how awkward they are!  (Or as Tasha put it, “see all the ways you figure out what to do with your hands in photographs.”)

A close second (by two clicks) was my Five Favorites: Look What I Made! Edition which actually included very little in the way of finished garments (I finished many more garments in the following weeks), but lots of in-progress photos.

The post with the most comments was tied between my 7QT: Quickety-Quick, Lickety-Split Edition and my post on Housekeeping and the Proverbs 31 Woman.

It was hard to choose a favorite photograph, as there were so many good ones of my children, but I think in the end, my favorite is from this Talking Tuesday post.

The hardest post to write was February's Once More Into the Breech, Dear Friends, where I discussed all the things I was struggling with.  I left it in draft mode for days, editing, deleting, rewriting, wondering if I should post it or not.  In the end I'm glad I did.  It is hard for me to show my soft underbelly, and the response was incredibly kind.

My personal favorite was also hard to pick, and I really had six that stood out to me:

1. The first installment of Redemption.  I've written a bit more since then, but I've not worked with the story since late summer.

2. No Place Like Home, a reflection on Rod Dreher's Little Way of Ruthie Leming

3. A follow up piece to #2: Trying to Find the Way to Home, a reflection on time and cultural narrative

4. Talking Tuesday: Thorton Wilder

5. O Brayer, Where Art Thou? --my brayer samples for my April class.  I'm so pleased with how they came out.

6. 7QT: 7 Things I've Learned About Childcare, written two months after we radically changed our approach to childcare.

I'm looking forward to writing in 2014!  I feel that I have a good blogging rhythm, and have several themes I'd like to flesh out next year, as well as continuing work on Redemption and perhaps something new.

An Undocumented Life

Mothering in the 21^st century is a tough proposition.  Most of us lack adequate help, as was historically available to women bearing and raising children.  We tend to live far from family and friends.  For the increasingly small percentage of us that stay home full time with our children, we are alone in the house with little people for large chunks of time.  Getting together with other adults, even other moms, is difficult, especially in the winter months when it seems like everyone is sick with something or other.  Add in a busy husband, (however helpful he may be when home) and inconsistent childcare, and you have a nice recipe for isolation and disconnect.

Via

I find the isolation to be one of the hardest parts of mothering.  Social media and reading blogs does ameliorate it somewhat, as I don’t feel quite so alone, but mostly, I’m plugging away by myself, day after day, with little people all in different stages of life, who all need so much from me, both physically and otherwise.  I often feel lost in the shuffle.  Having children with chronic health conditions and being trapped in a chair with a nursing baby who likes to nap in my lap for large chunks of the day doesn't help matters any.

It is easy to try and plug the gaps with online communication, to drown out the roaring in my ears with ebay or etsy window shopping.  To fill every quiet moment with digital noise.  But I find that after a while, I’m unhappy, scattered, disorganized, inattentive, and feeling even less connected than before.  Then I know it is time to tune out, turn off, and be still with myself. 

Via

 Sherry Turkle writes that “reaching for a device becomes so natural that we start to forget that there is a reason, a good reason, to sit still with our thoughts: It does honor to what we are thinking about. It does honor to our [selves]." Honoring the self is difficult to do in the digital age.  It means living the undocumented life—a life that mutes the digital noise of our age and limits the number of photos taken, quiets the beeps of incoming texts and the chiming of calendar alarms; one that leaves the mobile device in the kitchen instead of by the bedside.  It is one that sits with the uncomfortable realities of life, those things that make us squirm, make us hurt, and deal with them.  An undocumented life is one that makes the time and mental space to watch the clouds go by on a clear day, or notices the shimmer of puddles in the rain instead of trying to capture them in a photograph. 

Don’t get me wrong: I think photographs are important. Photographs tell a story, help us to remember where we’ve been, who we are.  I love looking back at old photographs, because they help me understand myself.  I can see my physical features reflected back at me in the faces of my ancestors, and I can understand more about their lives and their legacy.  I like looking at photographs of my own growing up years, because it reminds me of the journey I’m on, and where I’ve been.  It reminds me of how far I’ve come, and yet how far to go. 

Via

But sometimes, the device gets in the way.  I find I’m photographing my life instead of living it.  I have to remind myself to step back, put the camera down and simply experience the moment, take it in rather than figure out the best frame for the shot. 

A life undocumented is a life with space for quiet contemplation.  My best thinking times lately are while I'm doing dishes (we don't have a dishwasher, so this occupies a fair amount of my time, especially after dinner).  

Via Flickr

Sometimes it is important to put down the device, close the laptop, shut down the PC, and simply be.  If we always eat our food with distraction, we never learn to feed our bodies appropriately.  If we fill every waking moment with stimuli, and digital noise, we never learn the discipline of reading a book to the end, of getting lost in a story, or a moment, or to walk in the woods and listen to the trees. The undocumented life is one that is able to reflect on the spiritual, the life that gives us moments to process the difficulties, grieve death, heal, make deliberate choices, grow.  Disciplining ourselves to have limits, to fast sometimes, and feast sometimes, to carve out quiet mental space is necessary for a life lived well, a life examined, the part of life that is undocumented.  

7QT: St. Nicholas Edition

Phoning these in like Jen, because it is 2:02 on a Friday afternoon, Birdie is upstairs yelling in her crib, and most definitely not napping, the baby is sleeping on my lap, I'm STILL sick, and well, it is Friday.

--1--

My small table topper tree, since we can't manage a full-size one with the kids just yet.

Thursday was St. Nicholas Day, so I put up our Christmas decorations on Wednesday, as planned.  I scaled back my decorations this year, and didn't put up our ornament garland, which is usually the majority of my decorating effort.  I did get the Nativities up, and my tiny table-topper tree is on my craft desk, plus a few other touches here and there.  So it feels festive, but wasn't too much work.  

Coins in shoes, gifts from St. Nicholas!

A book each, and a Fireman Sam shirt

--2--

So this year is set to be the Fireman Sam Christmas, as both boys are super into Fireman Sam.  Haven't you heard of it?  I'm sure not.  It is a little Welsh cartoon that Netflix started offering to stream sometime this summer.  It is cute, and not too annoying, and has inspired hours of pretend fireman-play this fall.  I bought the boys some Fireman Sam story books earlier this fall and those have been almost nightly requests.

--3--

Station Officer Steele

The funny part is that my husband has never seen the show, and has the Station Officer Steele accent down pat.  Thursday morning, after the boys had put on their new shirts and eaten breakfast, as my very serious husband was trying to clean them up after breakfast, he broke into accent, saying, "Cridlington, Cridlington!  We must wipe off the mustard!"  He does a fair Cridlington impression too.

--4--

The downside to having your kids get into imported cartoons is that the merchandise has to come from overseas and is ruddy expensive!  But I know the action figures and fire engine and helicopter will get a lot of play, so I don't mind too much (plus the grandparents were good about getting some of it!)  There was a bit of a to-do with the shirts as I ordered two from a UK-based amazon seller, and only one arrived!  Ebay to the rescue, although I admit to a tense 30 minutes while I sorted it out.

--5--

Jesse Tree on the left, vintage Nativity on the right (waiting for Baby Jesus)

By the way, we are still mid-Advent, so miles to go before we sleep.  We started our Jesse Tree ornaments and readings last Saturday, and the boys seem to be enjoying it, although I think some of it is going over their heads.  They also enjoy our ritual of singing O Come O Come Emmanuel while we light the Advent wreath candles.  I'm thinking about how to carry it forward into Lent, since it does give a framework to the season.

These are Nativity icon cards we received in years past, and I just love them. Each one is unique, and I thought this was a good way to display them.

--6--

I've been working my Sherry Turkle reflection for the last three days and I think I'm to the point of having to put my hands in the air and walk away from the keyboard.  I have the post scheduled to go live tomorrow; hopefully it makes some sense.

--7--

Birdie.  Because, well, she's a force of nature.

Go see Jen for more quick takes!

Odds and Ends vol.1

I think I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and create a periodic feature of links to good articles I've found around ye olde internetz.  I read a lot of interesting/thought-provoking stuff, and I sometimes post the links to my personal Facebook page, but I'm thinking it might be nice to share them here too.  I usually have lots I'd like to say about these articles, but not the time to articulate them, but perhaps we can start a combox discussion instead.  I don't know how regular this feature will be, and I'll try to keep the link list reasonable.  I admit, this first list is a bit unwieldy, but there is so much good stuff here!

Rethinking the Nativity Story.  I love this piece, as it uses Ken Bailey's work on understanding the Bible in the Middle Eastern context to explain the Nativity story, and to reframe our ideas about Joseph, who, it turns out, was a good provider and a Godly man.  (Incidentally, I know Ken Bailey from years ago when I worked in the Twin Cities; I worked for Crossways International, and Dr. Bailey collaborated closely with Dr. Wendt.  He's a lovely and fascinating man, with lots of stories to tell).

And speaking of stories to tell, from The Atlantic: What Kids Learn from Hearing Family Stories.  As a historian, I think this is so, so important, not just in terms of how it benefits kids, but how it benefits the wider society to have a shared cultural narrative.  The loss of narrative in the post modern world is something that occupies a fair amount of my brain space.

From the New York Times: The Documented Life.  I'm working on a reflection on the themes of this piece, which resonated so strongly with me.

From Dreher: Exploring the Benedict Option.  Long, but worth reading.  From the article: "The purpose of the cocoon is to prepare the butterfly, not to be wrapped in yourself forever."

From a friend from seminary days: "Dear Stranger: A Sleep Deprived Mother's Plea"  We are thinking of starting a tumblr dedicated to plastic lawnmowers overturned in snow.

Get your tissues handy for this father's video of his son's first year of life, including 107 days in the NICU.


Just for Fun:

Middle Earth PSAs

The Evolution of Dance (parts 1 & 2): If you, like me, learned how to dance in the 1990s, but grew up on the music of the 1960s and 1970s, this is so funny!

Amazing Closet Office Transformation (although how this guy has a spare closet is beyond me)

From the Matt Walsh blog: Why Men are Bad Listeners

Vintage Beach Photos (there are more than 300 photos, covering the late 1890s up through the 1950s, and it is fascinating).  The photos put paid to the notion that women of yester-year were all short, skinny, with perfect 24" waists.  I say that not to defend the current obesity epidemic, which I think is real and serious, but rather to note that women come in a wide array of shapes and sizes, and being healthy is what matters most.  These women look healthy to me.  Plus the bathing costumes are great!

A 10 Month Old's Letter to Santa

Talking Tuesday: Sherry Turkle and Technology

I read a fantastic article in the New York Times yesterday, and as an historian, a moderate user of technology, and observer of post modern society, it really resonated with me.  I'm still marshalling my thoughts for a longer reflection, so stay tuned.

"Technology doesn’t just do things for us. It does things to us, changing not just what we do but who we are. The selfie makes us accustomed to putting ourselves and those around us “on pause” in order to document our lives. It is an extension of how we have learned to put our conversations “on pause” when we send or receive a text, an image, an email, a call. When you get accustomed to a life of stops and starts, you get less accustomed to reflecting on where you are and what you are thinking."

~Sherry Turkle, 

The Documented Life, NY Times online, December 15, 2013

How We Do It: Ideas Requested!

I've been thinking about starting a little series called "How We Do It", which would detail some of the specifics of urban row home living with four children (most of the stated purpose of this blog, ahem), but I'm sort of coming up blank on topics.  Most of the topics I've covered previously (laundry, stairs, driving in the city, grocery shopping, toy storage) were suggested by others, and so I'm soliciting ideas!  My idea is that these posts would be strictly of the "this is how it works for our family" variety, with the hope that it might inspire someone else in a similar (or not!) circumstance.  I know I often get ideas for our home and routines from others who post in this vein.

Fire away.

7QT: Pop Culture Edition (sorta)

--1--

I love acapella music.  I grew up listening to The Acapella Company and good harmony and vocals just feels good in my soul.  So imagine my delight when a friend put me on to NBC's The Sing-Off!  We don't have a tv, so our programming has to come via ye old internet, but fortunately for me, NBC has some lovely clips on the show's page.  Birdie and I enjoyed watching a few song clips this morning. I'm going forth to find more episodes forthwith.  

--2--

The best part about watching The Sing Off on NBC.com is the Sprint ad that precedes many of the clips, which is Malcolm McDowell and James Earl Jones deadpanning a cell phone conversation between two teenage girls.  Hearing James Earl Jones say, with utter seriousness, "Totes McGotes?" Priceless.

--2--

Speaking of good shows, I've been immersed in Phryne Fisher this week, watching Miss Fisher's Mysteries on Netflix.  It is a nice Aussie show set in 1928, based on the Phryne Fisher mystery novels.   The costuming is lovely, and I so enjoy the interaction of Dot and Hugh, and Phryne and Jack.  Apparently there is another season that is showing now, and it might possibly be cancelled after that (boo hoo!), but I'm hoping it will continue.  My only beef with the show is that Miss Fisher wears entirely too many pairs of trousers for a woman of the period (even a liberated one), and they aren't quite period correct.  Women did wear long wide-legged loose trousers, but they were very high waisted (think 14-15" rise), but Miss Fisher's look a tad too modern.  But otherwise, the costuming is spectacular.

--3--

So, sickness has struck us again.  The adults in the household have been fighting a monster head cold for about two weeks, and the baby came down with it earlier this week, so much snuffling, Nose Frida-ing, and saline-up-the-nose have commenced this week.  I think I'm over the absolute worst of it (I had a monster headache on Tuesday that has thankfully dissipated, but the junk continues to bubble up out of my lungs and down from my head.  The worst part is not being able to get any real volume on my voice right now.  Makes multi-floor living challenging.

--4--

Birdie's favorite dress at the moment is this wool-blend Austrian dirndl-type jumper that I found on the street in a box of give-away clothes someone set on the curb.  (Don't worry, I washed it in hot water about three times before I did anything with it).  It was too big last year, but it is a good fit this year and looks so cute on her.  We've been putting a long-sleeve onesie under it because the dress didn't have a blouse with it, and Birdie calls it the "snappie."  She looks in her drawer in the morning for the red dress, and then says "I need a snappie!"

--5--

And talking about Birdie, she is driving me bonkers right now with her small obsession with tissues and paper towels.  She is constantly running into the kitchen for a paper towel that she uses on precisely nothing, and then wads up and shoves in the trash.  Ditto for the tissues.  She was doing it with wipes too, but I put them better out of her reach.  I do not love this stage.

--6--

Pilot cap #1 is finished.  Oddly, it fits both girls well (ages 2 and 7 months), so for the second one, I'm making the same size, but one size smaller needles, just to differentiate.  Super fast and easy pattern, once I got the hang of it!  Definitely an afternoon-type project, so perfect.  I officially have too many knitting projects in my queue at the moment, so it is nice to get a few out of the way quickly.

--7--

And because I feel lousy and got nothin', you get an outfit.  I've been living in this outfit for about three days now, and it is warm for the cold weather, comfortable for my achy body, and generally perfect in every way.  Just ignore the puffy pale face above the neck.  (But at least I'm having a good hair day!)  Notice the Acorn and Will cat pin on the sweater.  And no, I did not go out without my coat.  I went outside, threw my coat over the mirror of our car, took the photo, and then put my coat back on.  It was about 25 degrees, so that's why my hands are in my pockets!

Go see Jen and other Quick Takers!