kim through
   the looking glass

From vegan hope’s every thing wrong with society can be found on the Today Show …

“If you want to become healthy – start with this: Eat nothing there is a commercial for. That’s right, watch about 2 hours of TV in the morning, whatever you see a commercial for, stop eating, and I can promise you that you will start on a good road to health. Likewise, start eating things that you do not see commercials for – when is the last time you saw a commercial for kale or blueberries?”

That’s right. I made ‘em!

I couldn’t find a pattern that I loved that used worsted weight yarn and size 8 needles, so I made one up - or rather, I took parts from two different patterns and put them together.

The wrist ribbing, I took from Stay-Put Baby Mittens - since they were sized for around 18 months and Gwen’s 16 months (when did that happen?). I loved the twisted rib stitch and the length of the ribbing for little hands, so I cast 24 stitches onto my size 8 dpns and away I went!

The actual hand of the mitten, I took from Dulaan Easy-On Mittens, which feature an extra-wide thumb-hole (um, the first mitten I made with a regular thumb hole? Good luck getting THAT thing on a toddler!) and are non-hand specific, which I liked. So after my 3 inches of twisted ribbing, I increased to 28 stitches and switched patterns. Instead of a 12-stitch thumb opening, however, I did an 8-stitch opening since these mittens were sized for a child with a 7″ hand circumference … which Gwen’s is NOT.

I then embroidered one mitten with a flower to match the embroidery on the hat I made, and knitted a length of i-cord to link the two mittens together. (I-cord? Fun. And easy!) Eh, voila! Mittens for the wee one. These aren’t the warmest mittens on the face of the planet, but they’re just perfect for cool mornings and an outing to the park. I’m hoping to make her a winter-weight hat & mitten set shortly!

And I don’t often use the word ‘need’.

However, the video series I’m currently talking about is hosted by a Benedictine nun and MD who holds a PhD in Public Health. What’s she talking about?

The flu.

Just to whet your whistle, she discusses …

• how the A-H1N1 flu is actually not a new virus
• how the WHO changed the definition of ‘pandemic’ for 2009 (leaving out the critical part about increased mortality) and just happens to also hold political power when a ‘pandemic’ is declared
• some inconsistencies in this years’ flu vaccination program - ie. a two-dose shot, increased amounts of untested adjuvants, and pharmaceutical companies asking for immunity from governments so as not to be held responsible should adverse reactions occur …
• that the swine flu is, by all accounts, a more mild virus than the seasonal flu and therefore, people should be refusing vaccinations … and, the thing that got me, that if there comes to be a large increase in the numbers of people getting sick and/or dying, then it is NOT due to the swine flu and therefore  the shot won’t protect you against the new mutated strain anyways

There’s lots more to the videos (6 in all), but I can’t remember all her points. Honestly, the video series is VERY well prepared and, I found, quite grippe-ing. (I know. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t help it.) Please watch it.

Please.

I thought I’d just share a Facebook link … it’s too much work to upload them all to here!

This week, Sesame Street is celebrating it’s 40th Anniversary! To celebrate with them, I thought I’d post my all-time favourite Sesame Street clip

And because it’s hilarious, here’s the Captain Vegetable video! Thanks to Citizen Kid for reminding me of this fantastic video!

Gwen, I swear, learns new words every day. Here’s some new ones:

truck (guk), up, down, Mummy, bus, pumpkin, drill, hammer (hammo), level, screw, vacuum (da-doo … promptly followed by a sucking noise), baby, banana (baba), toast, cracker, downstairs, upstairs, nose, hands, toes, Bowie (Yep, David Bowie. Don’t ask.), space, barrel, basket, coat, shoes, teeth (teese), bagel, cheese, button(s), ball, ouch/owie/ow, light, Uncle (ukka), hot, this, that, pee, diaper, paper, blueberry, duckies (referring to her Duck Crackers), arm, bottle (as in water bottle), juice, bum

Oh, and our favourites - “no” and “mine” - which she yells all. day. long.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten some words. But gosh darnit, when she talks it’s the cutest thing ever.

Wow. Can I say wow?

The Continuum Concept, by Jean Liedloff, is in my opinion, largely a social commentary. The writer spent a great deal of time living with and observing Native South Americans in their tribal communities and contrasts their methods of child-raising to our very different North American methods.

Basically, Liedloff postulates that these tribal humans live much closer to the natural human state (the ‘continuum’) than we “civilized” humans - a postulation with which I’m sure none of us would disagree. However, she also asserts that as such, their children (and adults!) are happier, more well adjusted, and enjoy a higher quality of life than do their Western counterparts. She stresses that we have come to rely so much on our intellect and so little on our inborn instincts that we miss out on much of the truly human experience. Read the rest of this entry »

On October 25 (which happens to be mine and Brad’s dating anniversary - this year we’ve been together 9 years!), we took Gwen to a local pumpkin patch. Read the rest of this entry »