Amend the CPSIA guest blogger

Guess who wrote a guest blog post for the Amend the CPSIA website today? It was Lizi! We are very thankful for the opportunity. Not only is Lizi seeing democracy in action, she gets to be a part of it! And they have asked her to write another post after viewing the rally tomorrow, April 1.

Please do check out the website, Amend the CPSIA. Things are really hopping over there getting ready for the rally! They will have live coverage of the rally and other ways to be involved as well.

love + support cuffs - in pattern form

You may remember this post a while back, about the cuffs I've been making? So far one has sold, and I was pleased that it went to a recently diagnosed cancer patient whose family wanted to encourage her. And I've had two in treasuries on Etsy. I like to make them, and I'm glad to do it because I know not everyone can.

But for those who are able to craft a bit, I've decided to make the pattern available. A gift like that is even more meaningful when it's made by the giver's own hands, after all. I just want to get it out there so maybe someone will be blessed by it. Therefore I'm listing it as a "pay-it-forward" - only charging what it costs for me to list the item, which is 20 cents. You can find it in my Etsy shop and in my ArtFire shop.

Notice anything?

See the new link on the right? That's my new ArtFire shop. There's not much there yet.

I know what you're thinking - "Kim, why do you need yet another shop? The Etsy shop you already have is doing nothing since you had to take the toys out." And I don't have a good answer, except that I am hopeful, and ArtFire is really cool. Go see for yourself!

Trying something new

I'm trying something new in the Etsy shop today. I've been writing knitting, sewing and crochet patterns all my life, but never to sell... until today! It was a bit of a leap for me to have the confidence to write something for someone else to follow. Let's hope it works!

The pattern is for the hat shown here, the Cloudy Day Cloche. My dear friend Maya has helped so much with the details - she thought of the name, and I loved it! It comes in a baby size, and also a toddler size which will even fit a preschooler.

As much as I love selling the things I make, patterns are great too. The best part is that when it sells, I just email it; no trip to the post office, or even the mailbox!

more survival bread baking

On the "survival bread baking" post, Sarah gave this link in her comment, and I did not want to let it go unnoticed. On the Smitten Kitchen blog, she found a recipe and directions for pita bread, which would definitely be do-able in a crisis situation. Hey, it looks so good, I'm going to try it in a not-so-crisis situation.... with hummus...

Dear fellow CPSIA opposers:

I have lived, slept, eaten and breathed this issue for nearly four months now. My teeth are sore from grinding. I have places on the sides of my head that are sore to the touch from constant tension. Like Whimsical Walney, I catch myself forgetting to breathe at times.

The ironic thing is, I have not lost much, aside from an enjoyable hobby. Others have lost their livelihood.

So considering how this has affected me, and how little I have to contribute to the cause, I must unplug from this issue for a short while. I need to take care of myself and my family. If I can be of service, please leave a comment here and I'll see it.

Many thanks,

Kim

survival bread baking

Considering current events in general; this post by David Wilkerson; spring tornado season coming shortly; and hurricane season not long after that, we have decided to get serious about our emergency supplies. In figuring what exactly to "hoard", I want to be sure not to waste money on anything we will not use. I wondered if we should store up wheat or flour - how would you use it in case there's no power? I figured there must be a way, because bread was around before electricity. But how would the average person manage to bake without power and without gas appliances?

I puzzled on that for a while, then I remembered our little grill. This thing has been my friend through many power outages. I have boiled eggs in a pan on it, boiled water for coffee, and of course cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. But would it be possible to build a fire UNDER it, and bake in it? We decided to give it a try today, to find out for sure if we should store some extra flour.

Here's our dough, first rising:

Dough, second rising, on parchment paper and grill rack;

Grill, with dough inside, over our fire. (I don't claim to be an expert fire kind of person. Don't laugh.) I did cover the wood handle with aluminum foil, just in case.

And voila! Bread! And it only took slightly longer than it would in the oven. It tastes a little bit like hamburger, I guess because of drippings in the bottom that I didn't get scraped out well enough. But it's not entirely unpleasant, and if we were hungry I know we would eat it. So now we know.

If you're looking for a happy post, you might want to move along...

I got another reply letter from a congressman today. Another pat-on-the-head, "don't worry, we've got everything under control" letter. And I am angry. I have decided that I will not vote for any incumbent in the next two elections, because every one on my ballot was asleep at the wheel when this atrocious CPSIA came to a vote.

You know, a couple of months ago I had never written to a congressman. About anything. And I never paid much attention to politics; I hated the mud-slinging, and honestly felt too uneducated to understand it. I thought that being a good citizen meant voting and following the rules. But lately I've paid more attention, and I'm finding that if you can understand how toddlers act on a playground, you can understand most politics. And as far as following rules, those of us who are interested in keeping the letter of the law seem to be the ones getting the bad end of the CPSIA.

I would be completely without hope, except that I remember what kind of people populate America. Think about what's in our DNA: The kind of people who picked up roots and came to America were not the ones who sat and said "Oh, maybe things will get better..." The people who came here to this great melting pot were the ones who said "This famine/persecution/war/whatever stinks, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" They sold everything they had, and sometimes sold themselves into a time of slavery, to come to a land they had never seen and try to make a better life.

If you live in America, and are not 100% Native American, you come from that stock. And I have a message for you: The America you love, the America your fathers and mothers shaped and died to protect, is slipping away from us. WAKE UP! And when you do, make enough racket to wake up the people around you! And read some of these: Overlawyered, The Common Room, and Organic Baby Farm regularly have informative posts on the CPSIA, and a lot of other important stuff too. Also, Jim Demint (R-SC) says that maybe it's time for some peaceful demonstrating?

If you don't normally read this blog, sorry you caught me on a bad day. If you DO normally read this blog, I'm sorry you caught me on a bad day too. But I think you know that this is a place for you to see my life and what I feel is important. Now, go call a congressman or something.

Update: Another good post by Whimsical Walney!

snow

Hi, all. Sorry I've been a little quiet lately. I've been busy working on my balance; trying to devote more time to my home and family, and less time on the computer. I also have not felt I had much to say, and times like that I think it's best to not say anything.

But that time of quiet made me a little late showing you the snow we had last weekend! I know this doesn't look like much to those who live farther north, but it's a lot to us Alabama folk. This is our first, and likely last, snow of the winter. It was delightful.
And I learned that snowmen are not as easy to make as it might seem to one unused to snow.