phoneill's Profile

I was given a cosmetic bag that I didn't need and I use it for car trips. It is only about 10"x5" and has three zippered compartments. I put different odd little things in there and it's like a little safari of discovery for a toddler. It could even be turned into a mystery game.

Actually, not so much. I did not find this a "fun and kitschy way to laugh and reflect on gender differences". Perhaps it is because I am finishing up a graduate level Education class on Diversity and Inclusion for which my final project is an examination of gender issues as influenced by cultural factors, but this post totally bugs me.

This "Simpsons" bit is funny. Marge is Marge and Homer is Homer, part of the humor of the joke comes from knowing these characters. And, yes, some of the humor comes from how it relates to the stereotypes of what men and women want.

But part of the humor of this bit was, for me, diminished because of the context of being on Apartment Therapy. Today alone there were multiple posts that reflect the design savvy and care of men. AT was created by a man.

I'm not asking any poster to censor what they find amusing or noteworthy, but since Rebecca tacitly put out the question of whether we readers find this amusing (by saying she hopes we do), I have to say unequivocally: no.

The editing and gatekeeping I do are the key things that keep our (very small) space from getting overwhelmed. We don't need and can't have everything in the world and our kid knows that, too. Kid will be three in July and he now helps me sort through his toys and book to figure out what can be passed on to his younger cousin. I let him have some veto power, but I retain a lot of control.

Our kitchen is 9'x9' which seems like it should be fine, but it was so poorly laid out by the developer that turned our building co-op. The space includes a closet for the stacking washer/dryer and there is so much wasted space in that closet that it used to make me want to cry. I live with another grown-up and a 2.5 year old who wants to be in the kitchen helping me. I keep kid on a stepstool and have to scooch him back and forth along the only workable counter space in order to get into the fridge and garbage and away from the stove.

Fortunately we have bit the bullet and hired an architect to re-work the whole apartment to make it more livable since we'll need to be here for a while yet. I am excited for what will happen with the living space, but I am beyond excited at the idea of having a kitchen that I can be in with the rest of my family.

There are also these that have animal heads on them:

http://www.hangersdirect.com/hangers/167/wooden_infant_and_baby_hangers/HD700900/10_inch_top_hangers_with_animals/

I went to my local hardware store to buy a specific light pink paint and decided to check the mistints just in case. Turns out there was a very, very similar pink for $10 for the gallon. I absolutely adore the color, but one small problem is that there was no label whatsoever on the can, so I have no idea what the brand and color of the paint is. If I ever want to re-create it, I'll need to have a swatch scanned.

I'd suggest checking out the pictures of how Lisa Mahar (owner of Kid O) organized and arranged art supplies for her kids, linked here:

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/blogging/new-york-social-diary-lisa-mahar-home-069959

There are more detailed pictures in the article itself which I found pretty inspirational.

Sofa and ditto Comicgeek's comment re: the lamp.

My husband and I live in a one-bedroom co-op with our two year old in Brooklyn. We tried sleeping with the kid in bed, but found that not one of us slept well. Moving B to his crib and then to his own bed helped, but I still think B would sleep better if we weren't quite so close. When we go to others' houses that have a room for him to sleep in, we always sleep longer. But we have what we have and we can't afford to buy bigger in our neighborhood and don't want to move out of the one we're in.

So creative solutions. I have been researching different room divider possibilities and the one I keep coming back to is to install lattice panels with curtains hung on them. That will keep the airflow necessary (B's bed is near the window, therefore the air conditioner), but will give him a little separate space which I think he will appreciate as he gets older. I should say that the one bedroom is a nice, big size - it currently fits a queen bed, a twin bed, three dressers and two bookshelves.

Is this ideal? Maybe not entirely, but it allows us to live where we want and our foot print is pretty small. It works for us. Good luck.

When I need to do a bunch of things in a short period, I make myself stop and think through all the tasks and really figure out the best order to do them in. Otherwise I run around like a chicken with its head cut off.