I somehow powered through the busted ankle and the four kids with three different ailments (cold, stomach bug, and teething, of which I also have two!) and had a robust post planned for today. My laptop had other plans and suddenly stopped working. The fine people at my local Apple Store fixed it in a matter of seconds, but it threw my day and my writing off. Apparently, the more I try to be mindful about my blogging, the more complicated my life seems to get just to throw me off.

parenting

The Crafty Crow has posted a kids homemade ornament swap. Sign up now for a fun crafting exchange. Though we don’t do Christmas at home or have a tree, I love ornaments (is that weird?) and would really have loved to do this with my oldest. I just don’t think it’s in the cards for us this year. Our family life is a little too unpredictable for activities where we would disappoint other kids if we didn’t come through!

crafting

Cool, crafty make your own recycled bath mat! This looks like so much fun. The Cookie Magazine “nesting” blog has a lot of smart how-tos, like this on making fabric covered drawer pulls. Considering I was thinking of shelling out $6 each for some at Anthropologie today and I have *tons* of fabric, I’m definitely going to try this first!

resources

Got piles of music or data CDs you don’t know how to recycle? Re-nest points out the CD Recycling Center.  They take disks, cases, and liners, and have great ideas for setting up recycling stations in an office, library or school.

Cool Mom Picks shares hand-me-downs, a freecycle and freepeats-esque resource that also combs craiglist and other sites to put info in one place. Right now, it’s only in a few cities, and not mine. Let me know if you check it out…