Jan
27
I’ve been careful not to comment on the presidential primaries currently underway because, although I have had a favorite candidate for some time, I just wasn’t sure he was going to be able to pull it off. Tonight, I’m feeling a little more sure. Barack Obama made a believer out of me not when he …
Jan
25
On Tuesday, RC2, the company that produces such brands as Lamaze Toys, Learning Curve Toys, and The First Years, settled a class action lawsuit brought against them as a result of the Thomas the Tank Engine recalls this past summer and fall. As you may recall, RC2 was forced to recall many trains with red …
Jan
24
I’ve used Consumer Reports quite a bit since we got pregnant with Gabriel four years (!!) ago, but even I was suprised and impressed when my Green Life tip from Sierra Club for today was to check out Consumer Reports’ 20 Free Ways to Save Energy report. There is some additional content that is available …
Jan
24
How callous of me to reference the most excellent Subscribe2 plugin & widget without crediting its source!!! Although credit has to go to Matt for discovering this handy combo, once discovered, I had to have it for ChezArtz. Anybody who doesn’t have a WordPress blog (or plan to in the near future) can probably pretty …
Jan
22
OK, folks, I realize it’s been broken for more than two months, but the Subscribe2 feature for ChezArtz is back online. Unfortunately, if you subscribed to ChezArtz before the cataclysm in early winter 2007, you’ll need to resubscribe if you want to receive an email when I post something new at ChezArtz. For that inconvenience, …
Jan
19
Just four days into our first attempt at indoor gardening, we have sprouts! Yesterday, I transferred the four planters we have in the basement to the shelf with the lights and set them to run 16 hours per day to simulate June’s prime growing conditions. The most sprouts, unsurprisingly, are in the lettuce category–the Mesclun …
Jan
17
One of the first things we noticed when we moved here was the sign at the neighborhood park that warned of bear sitings. Although, four months later, we haven’t seen any bears, our neighbors have already warned us that they once saw a mountain lion walk across what is now our yard and we’ve seen …
Jan
16
So it’s tax time (at least for us!) and we’re also in the process of assessing finances now that we’ve been in the new house for a while. That’s led me to ponder what things really cost. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about things in terms of the following: What it costs me to work (which, …
Jan
15
Lest those of you new to ChezArtz worry that the only side we see of our son, Gabriel, is the little beasty side, I thought I’d share some of Gabriel’s more memorable assertions & nonsequitors from the past few weeks: “Mom, what’s a human being?” “Human being is another word for people, sweetie.” “But what …
Jan
13
For most of the past two months, our yard has looked like this: Although we’ve grown fond of Lake Artz, it has basically put a stop to our work in the yard. And, between the gardening magazines flooding my mailbox and a recent talk on using Colorado natives in the home landscape, I’m feeling a …
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