skyesage's Profile

Done! It took all morning and a little of the afternoon, but every nook and cranny of that kitchen is squeaky clean. I feel like I want to put a red velvet rope around that sucker.

One of my biggest concern about plastics is what estrogen-mimicking hormones are doing to our children--feminizing boys and pushing girls into precocious puberty, etc.
And these are just the plastics that are tested. New plastics are being developed all the time and the VAST majority of these new plastics that enter the US each year are NOT tested.

I'm having memories of ripping pieces off of a fresh, warm, sesame-crusted bread ring and dipping it into a newspaper cone filled with za'atar. Mmmm. Street food in Jerusalem is fantastic.

Baby wipes are great for cleaning white boards.

Massive dirt, dust and allergen pick-up? Oh yes, please.

8 x 10 glossies of the Beatles (well, John and George) that came with the White Album. Then later, a black and white poster of John at the piano--that one came with Imagine.

At one point I had a velvet poster of Jim Morrison--orange flames and all.

We live in the country and have mice in our laundry room almost every winter (except for the years we have a lot of black snakes!). Havahart traps usually work:

http://woodstream.thepipeline.us/advice/animal-trapping/trap-guide

Wow. I can't believe some of the hostility here. And it's particularly sad that it comes from other women, other mothers.

Stating things like "popping out kids doesn't give you the right to be some whimsical tyrant" isn’t merely insensitive, it's misogynist and ignorant. Maybe this is so disappointing to me because I'm a midwife and I actually respect women. Also, have been at hundreds of births, and I can assure you that women typically don't "pop" them out. Look at the size of a vagina and pelvis, and look at the size of a typical newborn's head and do the math. And the delivery is just one part of the birth process. Labor is intense. Some women have an easier time than others, but for most women, it's a profound experience at the very least. And if a woman had a c-section, she had a needle in her spine, her skin and abdominal muscles cut open, organs were taken out of her body and then put back in, etc. Where is the respect for this, especially from other women?

The postpartum period is also profound, even without complications. It’s often referred to as the fourth stage of labor. There are major physical, hormonal and psychological processes taking place. There is the beginning of breastfeeding to contend with, which many women in our culture have trouble with at first (they are often left to figure it out on their own after minimal help in the first days by a nurse in the hospital—if they’re lucky) and the awesome realization that the mother's life, as she knew it, is over (not a bad thing but intense, nevertheless). Add to that sleep deprivation and a general sense of overwhelm, which occasionally comes with the territory, and then add to all of it the miserable attitudes like those shown here, it’s not hard to see why postpartum depression is prevalent in this country. 50-85% of new mothers in America experience the “baby blues,” and 20% experience the more serious postpartum depression.

In contrast, in supportive cultures were there is a distinct postpartum period during which the mother is supposed to be taken care of and during which rest is mandated, where there are protective measures reflecting the new mother’s vulnerability, and where there is functional assistance and even social recognition of the woman’s new roll and status---postpartum depression is virtually nonexistent.

New mothers who ask for help are not tyrants, selfish, or unreasonable. They shouldn’t have to ask for help. It’s the love and genuine support of a community that gives the woman and her new family an opportunity to take all this newness in and actually enjoy the new baby at the same time. If some of that support comes in the form of a load of laundry getting done or a sink full of dishes cleaned, it's the least you can do. Some compassion wouldn't hurt, either.

I love this space-- all those fantastic windows and beams, the green all around. Just wonderful.

Congrats on your new home! This, for me, is an easy one. Just do what you love.