DianneS's Profile

I'm interested in the angle of homemaking as an act of rebellion. I gather from Asya's blog, my mama's table, that the quiet rebellion she refers to is the homemaking that followed practices espoused by a pre-Revolution guide. The rebellion described was the act of individuals who chose their own experience and histories over the government's insistence that there nothing of value existed before the Revolution.
So how does the concept of rebellious homemaking play now in this era, scattered as we are among so many disparate but joined cultures? I think it's an incredibly strong concept still. We are so beyond homemaking as a 1950's middle class American pastime/social marker. Whether you're a stay at home dad making jam, a steampunk hacker making your own furniture, someone who wants to recreate Martha's look in every room of your house, I think homemaking is practically perfect as a statement for modern rebellion against a whole host of imposed constraints. Anyone looking for a dissertation topic? This could be a good one.

Hammerpress has some lovely ones this year, especially the Bee:
http://hammerpress.net/collections/calendars

(sorry for a double post, last comment eaten)

Crafty apartment therapy readers who want to use seeds that really are native to their area could make their own seed bombs pretty easily. Cat litter, potting soil, and seeds are the main ingredients. Jim at Sweet Juniper just did this in Detroit: http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2010/04/seed-bombs-with-kids-of-georgia-street.html

It's an interesting idea, but there's a reason why people who can afford not to keep their livestock in their homes don't. There is nothing about this kitchen that inspires me to eat anything made in it.

If you're lucky enough to be in Tucson and looking for paint, you could stop by the Citron showroom: http://www.citronpaint.com/colormenu.html

It's full-spectrum paint, which if I understand the process correctly, means the hue is adjusted using other colors around the color wheel, instead of black.

The "What makes our paint yummy" page gives a pretty good description of how it's done:
http://www.citronpaint.com/yummy.html

The fan book is kindof pricey, but the samples are reasonable.

Yes. We'd need to find a place bigger than our current 800ft2. We'd all need to develop strategies for getting out of each other's hair regularly and biting our tongues. But in the process our daughter would gain extended contact with people who adore her and we (her parents and grandparents) would learn what we are capable of, in a good way, when we challenge our expectations of comfort and necessity.

Is it just me, or does it look like the wainscotting is showing through the back of the open shelf? Either the shelf has a decorative back (nice touch if true), or more likely: You Suck at Photoshop, the LLBean Catalog Edition.

I really like this idea (along with all the other desk-inside-bookshelf-ideas). I wonder whether the backlighting would cast too long a shadow on the keyboard. I think if I were to copy this idea I would add a clip-on or USB LED for actual work lighting.

Um, sorry..plain jane, but I took "vaguely racist" as a reference to your use of Barack Obama's middle name rather than his first name, and not a reference to his skin color. Nice bait and switch. The racism you display is the assumption that a person's name alone (in this case, an identifiable Middle Eastern name) is sufficient cause to dismiss them as "not American" enough. So I hope you don't have any Germans or Italians or Poles or Irish in your family tree. If you do, a hundred years ago your family might have been "not American" enough.

And really, what is a truly American item? And how does one guarantee one's "devout American-ness"? (sounds a little too fundamentalist for me!) I don't know about you, but I'd sure be pleased to be represented by a president who recognized that other nations and cultures have contributed valuable ideas and ideals to our modern consciousness.

Oh, and America didn't hang Saddam Hussain, the Iraqi-interim government hung Saddam Hussain. Unless, of course, that was your Freudian slip and you believe that the war in Iraq really is a war of American aggression and that we took over the country and the government rather than were "invited".

Oh Rodney, I love your playful, dancing, floating bits of light . But I really love those canisters just as they were. I wish I knew of you before you drilled all those little holes.