Today, I celebrate 14 years of marriage. Some days I feel I might fly off into wild dreaming. Or sink down into slodgy worrying. Or dissolve into puddles of tears.
Fall off the edge.
This man, with one look, holds me fast to time and place. Grounds me.
A gift for him– a bracelet with the longitude/latitude of his marriage proposal.
Reminders of time and place.
*My friend, Jessica, crafts these bracelets and much more, at Motherhood Journey.
Someone recently asked me where we find our toys. I have several places I look to first.
1) Etsy: I love buying handmade and supporting other moms. I would prefer to make them myself. But–um, that prospect is not quite manifesting as I’d hoped. Check out this gnome furniture and the autumn gnome that might sit to sup.
2) Oompa and Three Sisters Toys: my favorite online sites for toys. No electronic noises and no batteries required. Three Sisters may be pricey but they have an “under 10.00” toy category and they offer 5.00 flat rate shipping. Oompa offers free shipping over 65.00. Last year I ordered all my Christmas gifts for kids from Oompa so that I received free shipping. I didn’t have to stand in a single toy store line.
3) Amazon makes it easy to create wish lists and to find used books for a fraction of the cost. And Amazon does offer HABA and Plan Toys. Now they also have a “Green Toys” category.
4) If I need a toy in a hurry, I usually go to O.P. Taylors. They carry a good selection of Plan Toys and Melissa and Doug.
And again, lest you think I live some ideal life and have no plastic toys…as I write this post, Norah is playing in the tub: “Mama, did you know Nemo likes warm milk?” I glance over to find her “nursing” a plastic clownfish swaddled in a wash cloth.
Inexplicable Ways 
