Tori Amos Concert, July 21 2014

This was a great Tori concert at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA.
I sat closer than I ever have before. Would love to sit here again: Section: Orchestra Row K Seat 117
I got to meet Tash, Tori's 13(?)year old daughter. She was very charming and happy to chat with fans, sign stuff and take pictures.  We chatted about how much she liked the Bay Area.

For this tour Tori was back to having it be just her in the piano on the stage, no backing band. Which I really like.

Good concert, looking forward to seeing Tori again someday.

Set list

1. Parasol
2. Caught a Lite Sneeze
3. Beauty Queen/Horses
4. Sorta Fairy Tale
5. Floating City
6. China
7. Jackie's Strength
8. Siren
9. Oysters

Lizard Lounge
10  We Found Love (Rihanna)
11 Tiny Dancer (Elton John)

12 Etienne
13 Secret Spell
14 Garlands
15 Scarlet's Walk
16. Springtime of His Voodoo
17. Cornflake Girl

Encore
18. Winter/Precious Things (I wrote down Winter, but everywhere else online it says Precious Things, I must have written it down wrong)
19. 16 Shades of Blue

I still design stuff...sometimes

I just finished designing an invite for the carnival party I will be throwing for Large S's fifth birthday. Yes, his birthday was back in June. Better late than never.

(Personal info has been changed to protect the innocent.)

Not too shabby, I hope the actual party turns out so well.

Your baby is not a dress up doll

I have serious issues with kids clothing, specifically baby clothing. More specifically, clothing for baby girls.  People look at me like a lunatic whenever I start giving my rant on this subject so I wanted to share what one blogger, Rachel Meeks of Small Notebook wrote that eloquently summarizes my feelings on this:  

"...it wasn’t until my son was born that I noticed how much less space the boys’ clothes section is given in the square footage of a Gymboree or Baby Gap compared to the girls’ section. Marketing efforts begin early, apparently. I realized how much of the shopping is more for the parents and grandparents. Having variety in clothes seems like an idea more suited for grown ups. Kids’ don’t need that much variety; they already get an entirely new and different wardrobe every six months!"


People, babies are not dolls to dress up, they are tiny new people. Your baby does not need to be a fashion icon. It needs to be cared for, it does not need a fancy outfit everyday of the week. With my my babies I often did not dress them when we were at home. I just kept them swaddled in a blanket and they were just fine.

Save your money. Save resources. Save space in the landfill. Stop buying 200 hundred outfits for baby girls!!! Stop making the gift opening portion of baby showers (especially for baby girl showers) an hour long bacchanalia of opening up gift after gift of adorable and trendy baby clothing--it's disgusting consumerism run rampant that make me sick every time.

The next time you are shopping for a baby shower gift, get the new mom something truly useful like some diapers, nursing pads, nipple cream or a wonderful classic board book or a gift card. Find out what she really needs instead of indulging your own shopping habit.

(hmm...I bet this rant just got me uninvited from all future baby showers.)

New Beginnings: Arise and Shine

Happy Valentine's Day

Little Lord Steed asks, "Would you to be my Valentine?"

How could you possibly say no?

(photo from 2010)

Pant Skills

Baby A is developing great skills. These photos document the newest skill: putting on pants. Now, as you can see he does not have it mastered just yet but this was his first attempt--not too shabby for his first time.

Today after I announced to Baby A that it was time to leave the house and go pick up Big O from school (an event that he looks forward to each day), I went to use the potty. Upon exiting the bathroom I noticed that Baby A was no longer in the hallway, but I could hear him heading out the back door. Remembering that he was not dressed, I stopped at his dresser and grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants for my undressed baby, and ran to the back door. There he was on the back porch, backing down the stairs, dressed in a pair of inside out pants pulled halfway up and backwards, plus a pair of pants in his left hand and another pair laying on the back porch.

Wow. I was impressed. I have never once allowed him to try putting on his own clothes and I guess he was tired of waiting for me to give him the opportunity. Plus, he really wanted to go and pick up the Big O and knew that clothing would be required for such a trip. What I can't figure out is if he opened up the pants drawer in his dresser on his own or if I left it open giving him easy access to all of his pants. Regardless, I am super impressed that he managed to get on his own pants. Clearly, Baby A is developing great skills. Maybe his next development will be the nunchuck skills.

Bad Mommy

For the last two or three days Baby A has been refusing to drink milk.

Each time I handed him his kleankanteen sippy cup (see above) he has eagerly grabbed it, taken a sip, returned it to me and then started crying. And I would take the sippy cup and place it back in the fridge. Today he refused to even take it from me when I offered it to him--he just started crying. I have been very confused by this since Baby A loves milk. When he wants some he runs to the fridge and bangs on the door until I open it up and hand him his sippy cup. I have been rather confused as to why he has been refusing it for the last two days.

But this evening the confusion was all cleared up when I decided it was probaly time to give the sippy cup a washing. Oh what a suprise I found.

Turns out his sippy did not contain milk in the liquid form. Oh no, it had moved onto the realm of solids-- the milk had become cheese. And not yummy cheese, sour stinky cheese.

To Baby A I offer this apology: I'm sorry I have been trying to making you drink sour chunky milk for the last three days. I am sorry that I have become such a negligent mother. Trust me, I'm feeling pretty bad right now. I hope you can forgive me and that I have not caused you to hate milk or your klean kanteen sippy cup.