Good Influence: William Morris

“If I were asked to say what is at once the most important production of art and the thing most to be longed for, I should answer, a beautiful house.” William Morris

I have been thinking about who I am and what our family life should look like lately....woah, deep, I know. But, since it is my job to keep house here, I've been contemplating what our environment should consist of. Admittedly, our possessions are primarily family cast-offs and craigslist scores, but I'm wanting to establish a feel for our home right now, so as we grow into an aesthetic in the coming years (in many years, that is, ahem), we won't continue with the mish-mash look we've got going on right now. Mish-mash look has got to go.

I have always been drawn to William Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement of the 1880s and '90s in Britain. When I was choosing my area of concentration for my master's program in art history, my top contenders were, in fact, the Arts & Crafts movement and late-medieval feminism. And now, I return to William Morris for inspiration for beautiful, warm, soulful home design.
William Morris was a jack of all trades: talented at crafting textiles, hand-painted wallpaper, soundly constructed furniture, architect, and proselytizer of his moral platform, demanding greater integrity in the construction of the ephemera of daily life. In his words, “More universally…[there should be] a quality that is hard to put your finger on but that is undeniably there in all great work, whether it be a painting, a pot, a roll of wallpaper or a fine tapestry—an inherent quality that derives from the pride, expertise and creative freedom of its maker. It gives craft or good workmanship, and the pleasure we take in it, a moral dimension, so that it is no longer a purely sensory phenomenon.” (Lucia Van Der Post, p. 15).

Morris' demands for a home designed with the integrity of the medieval artisans was timely; the Industrial Revolution was at its height in Great Britain during Morris' youth, and the production of textiles and furniture had shifted from artisans' hands to the assembly lines in factories. London's air had become polluted with the choking smoke, steam and dust from the ever-growing construction of railways, roads, and factories. The poor lived in crowded tenements, while the rich grew increasingly decadent.
Throughout Morris' upbringing, he grew increasingly disillusioned by the culture, or lack of it, that surrounded him. As biographer Lucia van der Post explains, "As a sulky seventeen-year-old heir to a City fortune, William Morris had refused to enter the Crystal Palace to see the Great Exhibition with his family. He already had a horror of the meretricious furniture and decoration that ‘new money’, such as his father’s, had made fashionable. It was only when he got to Oxford, however, that he found the intellectual armoury that helped him articulate his distaste…the writer John Ruskin blamed the degradation of modern taste on the enslavement of workmen to industrial process. Ruskin was sure that ‘the difference between the spirit of touch of the man who is inventing, and of the man who is obeying directions, is often all the difference between a great and a common work of art’. He believed the solution lay in the revival of handcrafts and the abolition of false distinctions between the designer and the maker, the artist and the craftsman."
Here we are in 2010. To me, it seems as if we are right back in 1880. We have collectively witnessed the same explosion of industry (that of the technological sort), the growing decadence of our society, and the cheap, flimsy goods that surround our lives (sorry, Ikea, but seriously...). And then, we see little sparks of William Morris resurface: it seems as though there is a cultural longing for hand-crafted, well-made, simple things again. You know, the good stuff!
So, William Morris, I tip my hat to you! I may not follow you in your socialistic slants, but I do love your commitment to craft and extraordinary home design!

"Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

William Morris

The Good Stuff for Me: What I'm listening to....

I don't want to imply that anyone out there is not familiar with these radio shows, but I've been asking friends lately, "Did you hear such and such" and I've been getting blank stares back. So, I'm just putting this out there, and if anybody listens to these shows, tell me, and let's talk.

This is what I listen to when I clean:

This American Life
I've been listening to this show for years, and it never disappoints. I have laughed to tears (bodybuilding snowman), and been moved to tears (this week's is actually quite poignant), and the time flies right on by. Your thoughts? I especially recommend this episode about the healthcare debate , which was excellent at clarifying the issues involved.

Radio Lab
My cool sister recommended Radio Lab to me a year ago and it is great! I listen to my sister about new things. She introduced me to Pearl Jam in 1992, took me to a Sarah McLachlan concert in 1994, sent me emails in 1998, when I checked my email account maybe once a month, and moved to San Francisco AND started doing marathons and triathlons before it was the cool thing to do. Anne, you are so on the cusp. And Anne likes Radio Lab. And I really do, too.


Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
Classic NPR show that makes me laugh out loud. Ah, am I geeking you out yet? But really, Mo Rocca cracks me up every time he talks. Eva, I am still sorry to have had to give up your spare ticket to see the live show all those years ago! And, did you know that Peter Segal is a pretty serious marathoner?

So, friends, what are you listening to these days?

The Good Book: The Garden in the City by Gerda Muller

I love this book. For those apartment dwellers among us, you can understand the longing for a little piece of land to look after. This book clearly demonstrates the dream of tending to a garden: a family buys an old, charming house with a huge, overgrown yard. The parents proceed to restore the yard to life, involving their children in each task, until the two young kids, along with their buddy from next door, have their own gardens that keep them busy! outdoors! frolicking! pulling weeds! listening to birds! I especially love that the home is set in the city. I love living in a city (Ok, New Haven isn't a big city, but it is very urban). Now I just have to figure out how to have a garden in the city. That would be perfect.



We have been up to our ears in library books--Peter has been devouring them! Tonight, before bed, he said, "I'm feeling kind of 'read-y'." Then he gave me that look that means I'm sure you aren't smart enough to know what I'm talking about and explained, "Mama, being 'read-y' MEANS that I need to read some books." I have been relying heavily on Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt. This juvenile literature reference has thousands of great recommendations from babies through to teenage readers. It's been fun to request books for both Peter and Nathan. The Salt Lake Library System has a fabulous online request system and I can pile on the requests at home and have the books ready for us the next day! Please, someone, tell me that Connecticut libraries have this system in place! I don't think I can go back!

The Good [Handmade] Stuff: Napkins to remember

No matter the occasion, you can always count on me to forget to put napkins out when I'm entertaining. It never enters my mind. I even assigned a friend to remind me about putting napkins out(Thanks, Kristy), but, sadly, she moved to Iowa. So, promptly after she moved, my guests resumed eating napkinless. How many times has a friend eating at our house asked for a napkin, only to be handed an old, crumply Christmas one, or worse, a folded paper towel! I thought I'd remedy the situation by making cloth ones. These little ditties are for lunches and baby showers, as I've been known to host a few of both in my day. They are the perfect size for when you might be juggling a plate and glass on your lap.
Truth be told, the napkins are also leftover quilting squares sewn together and trimmed with my snazzy new pinking shears I got for Christmas. We'll see how they look after I wash them. Probably a good idea to line-dry these babies. Anyway, this was a fun little project to distract me from the dreaded skirt project bogging me down. Hopefully, you'll be seeing a post about the skirt soon!

The Good [Handmade] Stuff: Christmas Jammers

I did end up making us all jammers to wear on Christmas Eve. I did not, however, get a picture of us all wearing our jammers, since we got home late Christmas Eve, put them on, collapsed in bed, and we woke up very early on Christmas morning to see Shane off to work, when, by that point, Shane was all dressed up and our magical pajama photo op had escaped us, so you will not see Shane or me modeling our jammers. Which is probably for the best. Anyway, just for the record, there were pajama pants for Shaner and me (same patterns from last year). For the boys, I made kimono jammers. Pete's are from an Oliver & S pattern. Ah, Oliver & S, how I love you! The patterns are a dream! I learned some great sewing techniques just from reading the instructions. (I'm thinking about making the coat for Pete next year. I better start now...) Anyway, Peter's jammers looked great! He loves them! Success!
Here you can see the trim from my excellent DI fabric find. The main dark blue fabric was from my sister who was purging the closets, so it turned out to be a $1 fabric investment. Thanks, Anne!
Now Nathan's jammers are another story. I used the pattern for kimono pajamas in Amy Butler's Little Stitches and ended up with this:
I made them THREE times and repeatedly saw what you see now! Aren't they ridiculous?! Every time I'd finish, I couldn't help but bust up laughing--WHO IN THE WORLD IS SHAPED LIKE THIS??!! Uh, definitely not Nathan. We even tried them on him for kicks, and guess what, they didn't fit. So, just in case you thought I know what I'm doing behind a sewing machine, put your mind at ease and look at that picture again...so totally not right. No hard feelings from me, though. Nathan likes his one-piece jammers better anyway, and they really only would have fit him for a couple of weeks after Christmas. Not to worry, Nathan. We'll use the other pattern next year!

The Good [Kids'] Stuff: Tools of the Trade

During December, I was madly pushing fabric through the sewing machine for Christmas pjs, there I was, a bundle of stress and expectations, while listening to the Martha show on my computer. On the show, there was a Q&A with Martha, and someone asked her what she was going to do for Christmas. Her answer: "I am going to a spa. I am not cooking anything or doing anything more than yoga and long walks." My next thought was "Now that sounds like a great Christmas!" Right then and there I resolved to designate January as nothing month. We have been going so fast for so long, I wanted to give us a break. A resolution for no schedules, no rigid rules, just easy-going living and be one of those soap-opera-and-bon-bon kind of moms, minus the soap operas and bon bons. Ok, maybe a few bon bons. The boys would love it, right? Imagine, a free-flow life at the Lloyd's house!

How did my ingenious plan play out, you ask? Well, Nathan started waking up a lot at night. Like every 45 minutes. Not only did Peter have a rotation of whiney/overly hyperactive/too-rough behavior at home, I started to get reports from preschool that he was falling on top of his little classmates and tipping them over domino style. The house that I allowed to become more messy than usual (as this was my bohemian moment after all) was driving me crazy, since I was tripping or stubbing something every other step (You should have seen my fourth toe on my left foot--bright purple for a few days from an encounter with the bouncy chair), and, after letting my meal planning regiment go, we started eating really weird food. Nevertheless, my plan failed so totally, utterly, completely that I knew there had to be some changes and, gulp, I had to be the one to make them.

So, the new sheriff came to town (meaning me with a new resolve). We introduced Nathan to his new home in the other bedroom, complete with a nice, spacious crib, where he gets to sleep all night! Alone! I know there is a large "We don't let our kids cry" constituency out there, heck, there's probably a facebook group by now, but I'm just saying that one hour of crying for one night and a few peeps here and there is waaaay better than 24 months of the rocking/nursing/ walking-the-halls nonsense. Ok, you can hate me now. But for us, life is immensely better at night. And since Nathan has an extraordinary super-power sensor that sounds his inner alarm whenever there is another human lifeform in the room, we moved Pete into our room temporarily. You hear that, Pete? He is all about this ongoing slumber party, but I'm not too excited that my already short morning commute down the hall has been entirely eliminated. Pete told my mom the other day "Sometimes I watch my mama and dada while they are sleeping." If it wasn't you, Peter, that might totally creep me out. Anyway, what I'm getting at here is that I'm working on some changes to smooth out the wrinkles that have come in mothering these two guys and I'd like to document them here for motivation's sake and to get some feedback and good ideas from all you great moms out there.

So, here are a few mothering tools I've implemented in hopes to turn things around:

Peter's very own special super duper alarm clock. To thwart of Pete's developing habit of waking before the sun, we gave him this alarm clock. Best five dollars I've ever spent. We tell him firmly every night before bed, "Daytime begins when the eight is at the front!" I don't care if he is actually awake, but I am not involved before eight. Every morning at eight o'clock sharp, I hear "THE EIGHT IS AT THE FRONT." Peter has been pretty good about this, though. Sometimes while he waits, he'll just be lying in bed on his back, one leg crossed at the knee on top of the other, reading a huge Richard Scarry book. Doesn't that seem so relaxing?


This blurry picture I took while holding a wiggly baby makes it hard to make out what this is, but I put a shelf hanger in Peter's closet and made labels on each shelf, one for every day of the week.

One of the most painful parts of our day is changing Peter from his pajamas into playclothes. Peter becomes so excruciatingly distracted and we both hate it. So, the new plan is that every Sunday evening before bed, Peter helps me put his outfits in the shelves, one for every day. Each morning, Peter can pick his outfit out all by himself and (hopefully someday) dress himself. There are little drawings on each label, Sunday has a sun, Wednesday has a vegetable garden,Thursday has rain clouds, so Peter can know which shelf to go to by the picture, even though he can't read yet. The pictures also create a springboard for some imaginative conversation while we get Peter dressed (Mama, you be the tomato and I'll be the carrot and Nathan can be the lettuce). After two weeks, this little project has been a success!

I love this little nightlight we got for Peter. The amount of light is just right--light enough to comfort him, but dim enough to let us sleep while he's in our room, and his brother when he moves back into his room (really soon!). It charges during the day and then glows throughout the night without any cords, which will be great for late-night potty visits when Pete finally gets the hang of using the toilet at night. It's better than a flashlight, since the whole thing glows, which makes it easy to find and has a soft illumination rather than a bright, blinding spotlight. The best feature is that it is not hot to the touch. Pete actually curls up with the light in his bed! It's pretty sweet, actually.

Ok! There's my first step in my new and improved mothering! No matter how much I fail at this mothering gig, at least I keep at it, right? Now, mothers of the world, tell me: what are your tools of the trade? I am all ears!

Feeling Good: Yoga Today

I've had a few friends ask me about yoga lately, and I can't recommend Yoga Today enough. Right now, it is almost impossible for me to get to a gym and this is my solution for now. I'm not one for doing tv workouts, since they are usually disappointing and cheesy, but these yoga classes are fantastic! The site provides one free class per week, and this week is a perfect workout for yoga first-timers (note--it might not provide great physical challenge, it is excellent instruction for yoga practice). I also love the beautiful places they film the classes. The Tetons and Arizona deserts are much more calming than a gym.

So, please tell me friends, what do you do for exercise in the winter with kids?