so far this week...

~ i bought a product called "hobby skum," which in and of itself, i never thought i would do...not imagining that scum could ever be a hobby. but with it, i made this little mattress to make sabin's built-in bench more comfy:

bench for watching t.v. in sabin's room
it has storage underneath (which isn't quite finished yet)

~ i finally got enough of those little styrofoam bead thingies to fill the handmade fat boy beanbag chair for sabin's new room. you need WAY more of them than you think you do. so many, in fact, that i maybe should just have bought her a real fat boy. she's always got it out in the living room, tho', as you can see here:

iPhone AND iPad in action.
super cheerful blue fabric from Ikea

i got these fabulous new cheery postcards from syko on etsy. you may know her from her scandinavian stitches book.  a little late afternoon sunshine broke through onto them, just as i took this photograph. i'm all about brightening up my environment these days in an attempt to make spring come faster.

i began to read an article that i thought was about the fashion culture of holy warriors, but which turned out to be about how they dare to be suicide bombers. and here, i thought leave it to the danes to want to discuss jihadist fashion during copenhagen fashion week. the misunderstanding arose from misreading the danish modkulture as modekultur for the linguists among you.  it actually was a very interesting article about a woman named ann-sophie hemmingsen who recently finished her Ph.D. on the attractions of jihadism in which she investigated the reasons that young muslims raised in the west turn to extremist branches of islam and are willing to give up their lives for the cause. turns out it's not out of any burning religiosity, but more about finding a group with a strong identity, being part of a counter culture and feeling like they belong. hmm. sounds pretty human to want those things.

~ i spent a good number of hours today without electricity, since a nice electrician was here, changing out our 1940s switchbox for a modern one with fuses and everything. i thought i would be paralyzed if i couldn't use the internet or the sewing machine, but you know what? i was just fine. and had plenty to do.

~ i marveled once again at the superiority of the british when it comes to crime shows. last night, it was a new one i hadn't seen before: criminal inspector banks. just excellent - strong, complex characters and a great story. no dazzling camera tricks and no one was wearing prada.

~ i found husband's growing stash of screws and nails. and let me tell you, i clearly do not yet have enough fabric.

~ speaking of fabric, i had a strange conversation with my mother in which she did not understand my fabric stash. she, the queen of stashing in general (jello or cake mixes, anyone?), claimed she had never bought fabric for which she didn't already have a project in mind. i was incredulous to say the least. and i refused to send my half yard of robert kaufman metro cafe mixers, even tho' she was going to sew something for me. happily, i found an etsy shop with some left and had it sent to mom so i didn't have to part with mine.

~ i learned listening to the radio that our DNA is 4% neanderthal. that explains so much.

what have you learned this week?