shisomama's Profile

i love revisiting this topic - i always get fresh, new ideas from everyone else. i tried to bring small tubs of playdoh on the plane a little while back, and they confiscated them!

recently we've discovered "wiki sticks" which are thin sticks made of wax. they work like pipe cleaners, but you can straighten them out and reuse them repeatedly. we also like to load stories up on our ipod. my kindergartener's into charlotte's web now, but we've also really enjoyed peter and the wolf and bill harley.

similar idea to the last coat rack is this from ikea:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60152590

i like how it can fold away when you're not using it, and it looks pretty sleek.

This is how our neighbors cured their son of his super-early morning wakeup time. He waited until the birds started singing. They worked in increments and eventually they got to sleep until 7! We did the same thing with music.

I'd start/finish the quilt I'm making for my son out of his old baby clothes!

i think we'd have to put it with our little mini-sofa and create a reading nook for the kids!

we also gave honey as wedding favors. we found a guy who keeps honey on his rooftop in brooklyn (in our old neighborhood) and bought bottles directly from him. he's supersweet, and his honey was so unusual, with minty overtones, although i'm sure it varies year by year.

i found an article about him in the nytimes:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E4D7123CF935A25755C0A9649C8B63

we originally saw his honey at "two for the pot" in cobble hill, and they may be able to help you get in touch with him.

good luck!

i've seen cork flooring samples at eco home, in berkeley. we also installed cork in our kitchen, on the advice of our architect. it's good for the kitchen, because it's slightly cushy, so it's comfortable to stand on for longer periods of time. but we've been a little disappointed by its durability. we can see all kinds of scratches on the surface of the tiles from moving chairs (or that time when my husband was playing on the floor with our son and his jeans made a long, ugly scratch). maybe sanding/polyurethane as austinjohn suggests will be our next step.

i make chocolate and vanilla caramels every year and wrap them in white and brown parchment paper. i usually cut the parchment with a paper cutter, and it goes pretty quickly. the last couple of years, i've made the caramels right before thanksgiving so that all my guests pitch in and wrap while we wait for turkey. it goes much faster with helpers!!

hi, i was the one who originally posted the homasote bulletin board how-to, and although that may be a little more than you want to take on at this time in your lives, homasote's a pretty good and inexpensive soundproofing material. it's not attractive on its own, but you just drill it into some studs and throw some paint on there. it comes in 4'x8' sheets, and i think you need to go to an actual lumber supply place rather than home depot to find it.

good luck! i'm sure your neighbors will appreciate whatever efforts you make.

We just came home from a trip, and although we were allowed to check in our stroller at the gate, we were told that SFO does not allow passengers to pick up their strollers at the gate upon arrival, but rather have to go to luggage claim. This may be just for the international terminal, but you might want to call and check - your hands will already be full with all the stuff you're carrying on with you, and you might want to prepare differently if you know you're going to have to carry your kid through the airport as well.