more rescued items

more stuff from my friends clean out. corn husk dolls; i love the way the mother bends down towards the child. it looks very real.

two small linen bags - sewn and printed by my friend as a child.

five boxes of fuzzy felt made a huge success with my daughter. i don't think you can get those anymore in the toy store.

in my friends opinion, all of this was trash. i haven't yet decided whether i've rescued some cool items, or if i've just added to our own mountain of unnecessary stuff..

to give; to receive

how little it takes to brighten a day!

the other day, i went to pick up a world map that i ordered through my local bookstore (i had been looking for one in a particular size for months before i finally ordered one), and when there, i came upon two books on sale: the lover by marguerite duras (a classic that i never got around to read) and the unbearable lightness of being by milan kundera. kundera is a writer that made a huge impression on me when i had just passed my teens. the unbearable lightness was the first of his books that i read (some might know it better as the 1984 movie starring daniel day-lewis, juliette binoche and lena olin, a film that is beautiful in its own way that certainly made an impression on me back then, but it does by no means do the book any justice). i will give this copy to a friend.

when i got home, there were other goodies in the mail; a copy of a tolkien book that a friend sent me, as he felt i would like it a lot. i don't read much (any, to be precise) fantasy, so i'm not sure.... but i will give it a try.

there were also a package containing the soap nuts that i have been wanting to buy for a couple of years, but couldn't find a norwegian retailer until recently. with it came a small organic cotton washing bag to keep the nutshells in while washing, and a sample of organic gall soap (it's a highly efficient stain remover and comes in solid bars as well as liquid).

i've tested the nutshells twice, both on 30 degree C washing programs. the shells has a distinct, not too pleasant smell, and even though the instructions said that the clothes would be odourless, i could still smell it vaguely on the wet clothes. however, it was completely gone by the time they had dried, and they are - odourless. the second wash i put a few drops of etheric oil on the washing bag, to see how that would be. they're still on the line, drying.

so far, i'm happy with the shells, and the clothes definetely seems as clean as they do with my usual detergents (which is sonett powder).

the giving part means sending off the handrolled hankie + + to my swap-choo partner. in this digital and electronic world it feels so good and special to send and recieve something by 'old fashioned' mail. (and look, i found a use for my impulse napkin purchase at ikea, and i've also been using my hand carved stamps!).

fridays with nick (on a saturday)

oh, such a moving song - i warn you!
this is not an official video, it's a slideshow put together by someone. some of the images are strange, and some are very strong - you might want to take that as a warning, too.

oh, happy day

a friend of mine who lives in denmark, has been visiting lately to clear out her childhood house after her mother moved to a nursing home. my daughter was the lucky recipient of some goodies from the 80's, 70's and older. among the tons of dolls we cleared out, i rescued these two. mostly because of the hair.

man, those hairdo's would have r u l e d the block back in my husbands punk rock days.

we went to the circus

and this is what we saw.

but that wasn't until after we'd shamefully lurked past the handfull of demonstrants outside. shamefully, because we totally agree with them: these guys do not belong in a circus:

still, we went, since i once said that my kids should experience an old fashion kind of circus at least once during their childhood years. we took our son when he was about 5. this weekend was my daughters first time. not just to see, but also to get all sticky from candy floss!

family cloths update

curious about how we're doing with our pee cloths? or maybe it's really the last thing you'd like to hear about? *grin*
well, we're doing great. they were perfect. should i make more, i would maybe make them just a teeny bit larger. we keep ours in a plastic container just next to the toilet, and put the used ones in a small metal trash can - the pedal/lid kind. i sprinkle a little bit of baking soda in the bottom of the can, to prevent odour.
oh, and the trick to get your hubby on board? don't. make it a girl thing. that's what we do, as we only use it for pee (and my daughter is dead proud of it!). i'm not sure that washing poo-cloths on high temperatures is more enviro friendly than using paper. plus, i'm a chicken.

i've been sewing up a handkerchief for my swap-choo partner, and enjoying the sudden rushes of warmth that has come this way lately.

fridays with nick

low quality, but cute video of one of my favourite nick cave songs. the other guy is blixa bargeld, in case you wondered.