Evil Eye

Want a unique gift for the yarn lover in your life (or yourself)?  May I suggest the limited edition YarnCon poster, hand-printed by Chicago artist Alex Uribe?

 Proceeds from the sales of these prints will go towards promoting more local fiber artists in the upcoming year.  You can read more about it at the YarnCon Blog.  Thanks!

Without fail, I always leave the DIY Trunk Show with a little less inventory, and a whole lot more inspiration.  Chicago has some amazing crafters! And I had some amazing helpers, thanks so much Scott, Sara and Victor for making it a great day.

I always like to hunker down and make stuff as the temperature drops, and that includes baking of course!  I just visited a site that is perfect for making some crafty cute cupcakes and candies: Bake It Pretty!  And, as if that shop is not sweet enough (yes, pun intended), they are having a contest over on their blog, every little thing.  Of course I entered the contest, I need more of those gnome decorations!  If I had seen that site yesterday, I think the tasty pumpkin muffins I made yesterday would have been embellished somehow.

So, I’m confused about the blue bins.  I saw the truck full of them out front, heard lots of racket from them, they spent lots of time out front.  We got notices about the program (again) a week or so ago.  But, no extra bin, which is good, we have our bin.  But, what was going on yesterday morning?  Confusing.

We tried something new with our gigantic baby last night.  For the first time I nursed him to sleep (that part is not new, I do that every night), turned on the baby monitor and left the room.  Normally, I nurse him to sleep, and go to sleep too, but I want to get him to fall asleep earlier than he has been.  It worked pretty well, he did wake up to nurse again at 11pm, but only briefly, and fell asleep again.  I was a big ball of tension leaving him in the room alone.  I know I was just downstairs, he was fine, but man, I was ready to leap at the first sound.  But, it was the first time, and it will get easier each time.  I guess I was worried that he would wake up, find himself alone and freak out.  He freaked out last week when I had the bright idea to take him to the American Indian Center Pow-wow.  For years I’ve seen people bring their babies, there were other babies there.  Victor was fine until the amplification started, and then it was over, he lost it.  He cried and screamed all the way home, and he cried on and off until he fell asleep for the night.  Sigh.  He was his happy, goofy self the next morning.  It was horrible to see (and hear!) him in such distress.

But, hey, when that’s the worst thing that has happened, things must be pretty good.  We’ll see how it goes tomorrow at the DIY Trunk Show!

Dear Mayor Daley,

I know you are looking to cut costs, and I have a little suggestion.  You don’t need to supply areas that already have blue recycling bins with blue recycling bins.  I hope that helps.

Kind Regards,

A bemused South Sider

This morning I woke up to a lot of noise in front of the house, what could it be?

Yup, that.  Except, that picture was taken in March of last year.  We were part of the pilot program, so we have been using our bins for a year and a half.  Oops.  I wonder how much it cost to give each of us that extra bin, hmmm….

I couldn’t think of a title, so I’ll plug the DIY Trunk Show, which I’m honored to be at again this year.  It’s on Saturday at the beautiful Pulaski Park Fieldhouse from 10am to 5pm.  It has been a challenge to get ready this year, but thanks to a supportive husband, I have managed to pull it off.

Yesterday Victor and I went hunting for historical figures.  I just finished reading Sin in the Second City, and recently remembered that Big Jim Colosimo, a Chicago gangster who was a major player in the Levee, the Red Light district in Chicago at the turn of the last century, is buried at Oak Woods Cemetery.  So, off we went to find him.  I had seen the grave before, but didn’t know anything about him, so I didn’t think much of it at the time.

We also found someone along the way I hadn’t expected to see, James R. Mann, the author of the Mann Act, or the White Slave Traffic Act.  It was “drafted to prevent interstate commerce to facilitate prostitution or concubinage, or other forms of immorality.”*

When I saw it, I thought it would be funny if Colosimo were nearby.  See the dark gray mausoleum in the background, to the right?  Yup, that’s Colosimo.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act#History,

More about the Mann Act: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88104308

More interesting people at Oak Woods Cemetery: http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=cem&FScemeteryid=173554

It’s time to get out there and vote if you haven’t already.  We’re going today, and I’m pretty excited.  Not only do we get to vote for the president, here in Illinois we will vote (yes!) for IL Con-Con.  I just wish I lived in the 39th precinct in Hyde Park so I could vote against the referendum to make the area dry.  If you do live there, please vote against that move.  I completely understand wanting to support the union, being against the demolition of Doctor’s Hospital (although, really?  It’s just not that interesting, and keeping it empty is not useful at all, but that’s just my opinion), and wanting someone else to develop the hotel, but making the area dry for at least 4 years is a mistake.  I know any precinct can choose to do this, but by actually doing it, no restaurant or hotel will consider moving into the area without taking this action into account.  The 5th ward (which includes part of Hyde Park and Woodlawn) needs more businesses, it needs jobs, please don’t sabotage this area.  Just today I read this story about the economic state of affairs in Woodlawn.  A hotel on Stoney Island could employ a lot of local residents, and make that area less lonely at night.  If you don’t like the way things are going, keep negotiating, but think of the area beyond your little precinct, we are all affected by what happens with Doctors Hospital.  How many more large abandoned buildings does this area need?

So, get out there and vote, it makes a difference.