It's been a busy and difficult weekend. Yesterday I went to a birthday party for one of the children who was in my class. I got to see quite a few of the other children and their families and had a really great time chatting and catching up with everyone. The kids had a great time listening to a musician, running through the sprinkler and just playing in the yard. And of course cake is always a great thing! The party ended right on time when the rain started...we helped move all the food inside and then the sky opened up and it started POURING! My boyfriend and I decided to make a run for the car, so I took off my shoes and ran through two yards to get there...we were both totally drenched by then. And about 20 minutes later when we went to a friend's apartment, my shoes got soaked when I stepped out of the car into a small river coming down Beacon St. So I didn't end up saving them in the end. Later that evening we picked up take out dim sum from Gitlo's (anyone in the Boston area, this is a GREAT place to go! Very small, all handmade-to-order by a guy from Hong Kong...he is brilliant and it is one of our favorite places to go...the sweet potato puffs and rainbow noodles are my favorite!). We brought this home, because we were having my former co-teacher and her son over for dinner. It was really nice to catch up with her and her son had a great time play Rockband with my boyfriend. :)
I don't know if it was the running to the car, or the adjustment I did to my hips earlier in the morning, but last night was a horrible night's sleep. My back was killing me, and this nerve that I've pinched over and over that runs over my right hip started flaring..at one point I felt like my leg was going to fall off. A lot of Advil and some ice this morning helped ease the pain but after walking around the Legacy Place today my legs are cramping and my hips hurt again. I hope this isn't my back regressing.
Anyhoo, the point of this post was to talk about the inspiration I got today while walking around the stores at Legacy Place. We went and saw Despicable Me (great movie!) and then looked around at the shops nearby. I went into a handmade and local artisans shop, looking to see what kind of artists they feature there (I later visited the website and they offer consultations for $100 an hour...not what I'm looking for). Still thinking about my next move to market my bears. Ever since I started sewing clothes, I've had a hard time buying anything from the stores. Mostly because I think, I could make that for a lot less! Not the super fancy things, but for instance those skirts that are just elastic and fabric. I saw a ton of these in H&M and they are so easy! I couldn't find an example of the H&M ones but this one (MetroparkUsa) is a simple example:
The ones I liked in H&M had some silky material with a bit of a bubble hem, which I liked a lot. And I've seen some tiered skirts that are just as adorable. So that is going to be my next project for myself. I always thought leaving the elastic visible seemed lazy, but hey...if it's trendy AND easy, why not??
Finally, my jaw dropped when I saw this next item in William Sonoma...a baby food maker. Now call me crazy, but if you have a normal kitchen and a blender or food processor, I can't imagine that you couldn't do what this machine does (and in larger quantities!). I don't have children, so maybe I'm wrong, but this seems like quite a rip off. What do you think??
Concerning Beaba:
ReplyDeleteSo my situation is probably not the norm... or maybe it is. When Elise was born we lived in a shoebox apartment with a very small kitchen. I didn't already own a food processor, had never used one, and didn't have room for one. Also, after Elise was born, my brain was (and is) so scattered that I would start cooking something, walk away from what I... See More was cooking to tend to baby, and come back to burned food.
That's kind of the beauty of the Beaba babycook. Put in the right amount of water, put in the food, turn in on, walk away. I didn't have to worry about over steaming anything, and it turned off on it's own. Also, because you steam and puree in the same container clean up is super fast. And when you're first starting out making baby food you don't know yet what baby is going to like or hate, so making a huge amount of food that baby ends up not liking isn't the most fun.
I also have to add that Marc & I only paid about $50 bucks for our Beaba, so I'd say I definitely got my moneys worth =)
But yes, if someone already owned a food processor or an awesome blender, buying the beaba wouldn't make any sense at all. It just really worked out well for us at the time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Jenn! You've got to tell us where you got the Beaba for $50!
ReplyDeleteMy back flared up again yesterday too. I can barely walk today. Perhaps it is sympathy pain for you, but nonetheless I wish it would go away!
ReplyDeleteLove the skirt! I can see you making and selling them.