94 clothespins

I own 94 clothespins (that's how I bought them, the number struck me as odd, that's why I know) - this is my work of art! - three loads of laundry, two hours of entertainment.

My favorite accessory - aside, of course, from Gus - it's boldly colored and turns heads wherever we go - I don't need Manolo heels or a Kate Spade tote!


My favorite bankteller (we bank at the world's chicest bank, complete with fresh cookies and gourment coffee bar) recently paid me the most wonderful compliment that I have gotten in a long while.No, she didn't tell me my hair looked good (it doesn't) and she didn't comment on my outfit (better not say anything there), instead she made big eyes when I pulled into the drive-through in the still-so-loud Suzuki and greeted me with a "I didn't even know you own a vehicle!"

Then she offered to bring me a cookie and send it through the pipe.

It's with a bit of pride (sorry) that I have come to be known around town as "that crazy lady toting her baby around everywhere in a bicycle trailer" I love our Burley (best baby thing we bought so far) and I love Brevard (not every town is quite as inviting and as easy to navigate on two-plus-two wheels as our lovely little town, where the downhills are few, the traffic is usually benign, and the general layout is pretty compact) and I love this early summer season (rarely do I have a reason not to want to be outside for some extra minutes).

So, Gus and I are out and about most days either in the Burley or in our - also very cool and head-turning - stroller. We run errands that way, we shop that way, we go to work that way and we visit friends and go work out that way, we even see the pediatrician that way...oh, and yes, we go to the bank that way.

Working part-time (I work all the time, I just get paid for part of it) has allowed me to make some changes to our lives that I feel are not just well-timed, but long overdue. In light of increased stresses on our precious environment (whether you believe in Global Warming or not, we ARE hard on this planet) I have decided to make two resolutions to keep this summer:
1. I will not drive my car - unless there is a medical emergency or I have more than three big totes full of groceries (that's about the capacity of the Burley). If the weather is bad, we go another day or bear it - the Burley is waterproof. I haven't filled the Suzuki's gas tank since gas cost $3.29 a gallon and I'm actually thinking of giving the Burgundy Buggy up completely and letting Jacob's Dad have it for the farm.
2. I will not use my dryer - unless I'm completely out of cloth diapers and it is pouring outside. So far we've been able to manage, by watching the supply and checking on the weather forecast. I love my big clotheshanger tree (I have no idea what you really call it), a birthday present from my parents. Hanging clothes is strangly soothing and oddly rewarding as an activity, very brainless, very repetitive, completely undemanding. I just pin and bend, pin and bend.

I realize I'm bragging - forgive me and bear with me (and yes, we compost, recycle, use those ugly light bulbs, turn appliances off, take short showers - if at all, and generally try to be sensitive with our utilities), It's simply that I appreciate having the time and the gadgets to do this - to do my little part to keep our planet a nicer place for the next generation (Gus, Edward, Mabre, Boone, E & G-Man, Emma Kate, Charlie, Flynn and all the babies I'm not thinking of right now, included). The best part - Gus loves a good clothes hanging session (he usually drums frantically on an upturned laundry basket) and adores a good ride around town (he sings to me - the rougher the road, the louder he gets) ...