3 Ring Binder

Cutting down a live evergreen, installing it in your house into a heavy duty vase, then embellishing it with little trinkets and lights is just plain weird. Yet, every year we look forward to the piney smell, the sparkling lights, revisiting our favorite ornaments, adding new ornaments, and making little stories up about the goings-on between the little figurines hanging there (if not to the constant watering and needle clean-up). In this one minute look at our efforts and effects, you can see a few of our plastic couples kissing, actual photographs of family, the Christmas puppies looking frightened of the Michael Vick NFL series figurine, and the macabre world of Tim Burton spilling over onto the now headless Felicity of American Girl fame. Except for a few NYC ornaments, our places visited collection seem to be missing among the boxes in the holiday decorating production staging area (aka: the living/dining room). Then there are the casualties. Two years ago, BOOM! Our lovely ...

This is not going to be as fun a report as  my nutty foray into the Whole 30 last September. This one is bittersweet. Oddly, although my Whole 30 experiment was quite successful in that I managed to follow the Whole 30 guidelines for the entire 30 days without falling face first into a box of Oreos, my desire to do so was much, much stronger this time. In short, it wasn't so much the crunch as the sweet I craved. As someone who's had gestational diabetes - twice - and has only type 1 and type 2 diabetics for direct relatives, I've always been concerned about my blood sugar. My A1C levels have been okay, but they are slowly creeping up. My last fasting blood sugar was 102 mg/dl: not good. I wonder if it would be different this morning. I should have some of those diabetic relatives bring their testing equipment to Thanksgiving. (Do I know how to throw a party, or what?) In any case, I found that coconut milk satisfied that sweetness craving to the point where I bega...

Last weekend we made our way down to Portsmouth Abbey in Rhode Island to attend the open house of two new Evolution homes from Blu Homes . We were delighted by the light and open spaces which made the 1200 sf pre-fab house seem much bigger. The efficiency and economy that comes from building the home inside of a factory instead of on-site allows these houses to be completed in weeks. These cost about $300,000, not including the $100,000 of site work and foundation. Then I saw this: This powerpod from PowerHouse Enterprises (which now seems defunct) is truly tiny, appropriate for a vacation home only, but at 500 sf for $100,000 delivered, it has some pretty cool features like radiant heating, active solar energy collection and passive solar heating, and water collection. That they are green is incidental to me. That they are energy efficient and just plain cool looking is pretty attractive. And these builders are in my own backyard! Finally, I just got this month's Dw...

Seriously .

Last night, after a fun and exhilarating workout at the gym I had several hours of euphoria before I crashed into my pillow falling immediately dead asleep. I have not achieved either of these welcomed conditions for many months now, and I cannot help but think it is in large part due to the way I’ve been eating. I just finished Day 15 of my second go with the Whole 30 . (See my report on last fall’s nutty effort here.) The Whole 30 is an eating program which requires the removal of processed foods, sugar, dairy, and grains – all thought to be responsible for crazy cravings for empty calories and a myriad of often elusive ailments related to inflammation – from one’s diet, and the inclusion of good fats, good meats, nutrient-dense vegetables and some fruit, seeds, and nuts for thirty days.  It does require effort to make sure what you’re eating doesn’t have hidden crap in it, but if you stick with food still in nature’s packaging (or recently out of it – hello gorgeous grass-fed ...

“I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do,” she says. “I support what they do.” Elizabeth Warren on the Occupy Wall Street movement. 24 Oct 2011, the Daily Beast   The proper role of government is to protect individual rights including property rights. The government should be helping this woman get her money back from those who took it. Oh. Wait . . . since government is the only institution with the legal use of force, let alone the institution that forced the bail out on many banks, shouldn't she be marching on  Pennsylvania Avenue? Pot, meet Kettle. (Just too close to ignore.) A little more cerebral signage, closer to the intellectual foundation of the movement.  The system in which every man can voluntarily trade with any other man must die. Long live . . . um . . . tyranny?  And there it is.  I'm not sure who "the man" is in this case, but the suggestion of lynchings is always in protest vogue. While inventing the...

Although my current home does not reflect this, I'm a huge fan of sleek modern architecture, minimalist interior design, and modern conveniences (Okay. I have modern conveniences). Even so, there has always been something about the old sprawling farmstead -- the building that seems to accrue organically as space and functional needs dictate -- that has always been attractive to me. But this one took me by surprise. On first inspection, it's an lovely old New England farmstead, freshly whitewashed with a vibrant red door nestled among the rolling hills of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Pretty.  Through the dusk, the landscape seems well-managed and the shapes oddly regular. On closer inspection, however, we see that it is not what it first appears to be! Front (a little sterile) Back (bam!) Side (glowing) Interior (clean and sleek)  Hey - we have those Eileen Gray tables !  Plan (and structure) by Hugh Newell Jacobsen Set on 146 acres in Great Barri...

Now that the snow has arrived--all too early for my liking--it's time to break out the winter hand protection. Black leather gloves have been my standard wear for the last 30 years or so with an occasional infusion of leopard or zebra print here and there. Recently, I found these really cool gloves that I wouldn't mind adding to my monochromatic collection. Don't say goodbye, say "ironic things" in "air quotes." (From  Kate Spade  via  SwissMiss )  Because there is conductive material woven into the fingertips of these gloves, you can use your electronic devices without freezing your phalanges off. (From Muji via SwissMiss ). Hedgehog mittens!!!! These are the cutest things ever - but you have to knit them yourself. Jenn? Earl? Somebody? (From CritterKnits )

This is why I check out the daily Federal Register only once every six months or so. It's addictive. At 475 pages, today's robust Register contains two Presidential Documents: One about how Sudan continues to be an " unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States "  and the second establishing BusinessUSA (yes, a WikiWord - so hip!) to assist small businesses and exporters, because " those businesses help drive economic growth and have the most to gain from Federal assistance. "  If we are to thrive in the global economy, and make America the best place on Earth to do business, we need to equip our Government with the tools necessary to support innovation and job growth in the 21st century. ----  BusinessUSA, a common, open, online platform and web service with dedicated resources that will, as a first step , disseminate core information regarding the Federal Government's programs and services re...

     Here is a list of agencies that are proposing changes to their regulations or policies and giving notices that are required by law so that we may understand what our government is doing - today . This happens everyday .  If you are of strong constitution, I urge you to take a little trip down one of the little sucking vortices known collectively as federal government agencies and see where it leads you. I like to do this at least once every six months. It's good to remind ourselves what our tax dollars really pay for.  Today, I am recommending the Education Department (ED) notification of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) report on recommendations for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA).  Need a primer on NACIQI? Here's one . How about the HEA? Here's one for that.  Enjoy.  ·           Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 1 ·   ...