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May your day be merry and bright! Lots of love to you all! photo by Emily Rumsey
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I love shopping for other people. I really truly do. I love giving gifts!!! I also love supporting small businesses and organizations I believe in. My last minute, shop small, gift list. So I made my list of seven places to shop that aren’t amazon. Not to hate on the great ‘zon, but these are special. Support your local maker, mama, monk. 1) Brooklyn Herborium Just a few of my favorite things from my sister Molly. I douse my kids twice a day in her oils and balms. It’s the only protection against the harsh Minnesotan winter (plus my daughter’s eczema gets BAD without her products). She’s running a buy 5, get 1 on a few of her hot sellers. Okay, they’re all hot sellers, but these ones are SO great. 2) Natti Natti And a friend of Molly’s, Shannon, whom I so respect and admire, has launched her Natti Natti line!! Hand-designed organic cotton innovative and beautiful children’s products. This bedding !!! I’m looking at one she sent over right now and can’t wait to do a full review in January when I talk to you about how we revamped the kids’ room. Support a hard working mom of two: 3) Sassy Knitwear A local friend who is a seamstress extraordinare designs and sews with her partner all these lovely threads. My kids love theirs!! She’s kind enough to offer a coupon code for 25% off through Dec 31st, good in-store, too, locals! Thanks to Sarah & Molly over…
Read MoreFirst, clean your house. Like really, go through all your cupboards that have decades-old spilled spices. Rip all your clothing out of your closet, determined to go all Jaanese on it. Then spray a homemade cleaner all over your tub, only to find it does nothing to the scum build up. Then start sorting your child’s hoarded bag collections of ripped up tissue, pearler beads, buttons, coins, and hair binders. Realize you need a photo taken for your write-up in your Waiting in the Word newsletter. Ask your husband to take a “casually happy” shot of you because you washed your hair today. Realize you look like you have a kink in your neck and your head is weighted down by your heavy hair (factually accurate). Meanwhile your feral children have taken to jousting with cardboard tubes and knocked each other down and bonked each other’s heads and OH MY GOSH we have to get a Christmas tree and decorate the front of the house and make something for dinner. While you’re texting your sister about what her kids need while in town for their visit (and talking on speaker to your other sister about what her meal plan ideas are), remember that you didn’t take the potatoes off the stove top yet and they’re probably boiled over. Step over the contents of your closet strewn on your floor. Step on top of the piles of children’s toys you’ve carefully sorta-sorted. Hold your nose as you pass the bathroom your two…
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I loved this year and my sewing. It was such a joy to add a few new product lines! To scale back in some ways, but build in others. To figure out my pattern, my rhythm, my actual need and time for sewing. Homeschooling kinda kicked any spare seconds I had to the late nights, but if anything, it also showed me I’m crabbier and less patient without creative time. My last of my holiday items are all up! The shop has about fifty (5-0) things for you and your beloveds until next Wednesday and then I’m putting the shop on vacation til after the holidays. I’ve never done that, but it means I will make sure everything ships to you before the holidays! Lots of caps. Those double sided organic wash mitts. A handful of pennants are left. Only 5 of my triple layered soft organic blankets. A few sizes in the leggings. B U T in plenty are bandit bibs & contour cloths in gift sets (discounted & free shipping)! I just slipped these in–quick quick quick. These blankets have been so special for me. Last year I still used a poly minky but now I use a heavy cotton flannel (organic!) that feels more authentic and is incredibly soft yet durable. I have hung on to some of these fabrics for the right project, and others I snapped right up when I saw them this winter. Each blanket is filled with organic cotton batting and secured throughout…
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emily rumsey photography I’ve had a number of friends and family say to me . . .That’s so nice that you blog, but do you ever feel weird sharing so much about your life? About your marriage? Pictures of your kids’ faces? Why do you share all that? I have given it quite a bit of thought, and arrived at these thoughts. Lots of thinking for a person who doesn’t think a lot. Firstly, I share because motherhood in its first few years can be exceptionally isolating. I live with my mom (part-time) and my sister (soon to be no-time as she’s bought a sweet little house down the road), I’m on the phone with my other sister in New York constantly, I have regular coffee dates with my oldest sister who lives across the river, and I chat it up almost weekly with my sweet sister-in-law. You’d think I have the complete village like days of yore when women were supported by their families and their tribe and yadayada. Yes, I am exceptionally blessed with women close to me, emotionally and physically. But even so, the trials and tribulations of young motherhood are particular to us as a generation. We face different pains than my mom’s generation, insta-gram-envy, for example, or maybe the pressures to bottle feed if your workplace isn’t supportive of breastfeeding or the backlash of bottle feeding if nursing didn’t work out for you. I was more than a year ahead of having kids than my oldest sister, and…
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