Milestone Moment

 

Our Peanut rolled over from his belly to his back today. He thinks he's pretty cool stuff. I'm elated. Life is simple.

Ecofont: Use Less Ink!

This week, I've finally had time to start reading the newspaper again. It's exciting. Today, it's the economy section and a few articles about a "Green New Deal" that's been suggested by the UN as a solution to both economic and environmental problems. It sounds like an interesting plan, but a big one that will be executed (or not) by corporations, nations, and so forth. Ecofont, however, is something we individuals can put to use to take care of our personal economic and environmental issues. Funny how those two often go together, eh?

Ecofont is designed to use 20% less ink. Designed by the folks at SPRANQ, a creative communications agency in Utrecht, the holes in the letters reduce the amount of ink used without interfering with legibility. I think it's a grand idea. Best of all, it's free to download. Aside from getting the font (links to directions for installing the font are also available), you get to see the Dutch version of "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." How's that for a groovy bonus?

I'm thinking it would be cool to print, say, a dissertation using Ecofont. I could also use it for all the handouts I make for my students. Or how about an Ecofont Christmas letter? Would you use Ecofont? How?

Amsterdam Saturday

*x-mas_queens, originally uploaded by rbrtdotbiz.

We arrived at the Bijenkorf in Amsterdam at the same time as these fabulous ladies were turning up in three separate horse drawn carriages, if you can believe that. We would have been late if we'd tried to plan it, but since we were there on a mission, we were right on time for the madness. Our rare and daring trip was to return our espresso machine. We love it, but it's recently developed a rust spot that I'm hoping they will fix so the machine doesn't slowly fall apart. But there's a real story to tell here.

Our first dilemma was deciding whether to go by train or car to the store. We had to move the espresso machine (weighs 12 kg) and Peanut (current weight 6kg+) and ourselves. With the car it's easy to move stuff and bodies, plus you can park at the Bijenkorf. Costs an arm and a leg, but you can park there. Unfortunately, driving into downtown Amsterdam is a miserable experience and probably worse with a crying baby. With the train, you have to move all the stuff, but no driving hassles, the tram stops in front of the Bijenkorf, and it is a bit nicer for ye olde environment. We opted for the train. So, that's F with the espresso machine, nicely packed up in its original box, on the back of his bicycle walking next to me and the stroller to the train station in Haarlem. One train to Amsterdam central and a tram to the Bijenkorf.

When we arrived, the entrance to the store was mobbed. It was confusing at first, but then we figured out that there were these lovely ladies arriving. Unfortunately, we've 18kg of stuff and baby to deal with and however lovely they are, we'd rather just get into the store. F was much more mobile than me and made pretty good time, although he apparently did get caught in the photographic cross-fire at one point. I got told off a couple times for daring to move (off the street, towards the door), wrestled with a tiny revolving door, and made it inside, hoping to find F. Once we found each other, our goal was to find the elevator and get upstairs to customer service.

Needless to say, on the first Saturday of December, department stores are packed. It was a challenge to move forward at all, but we managed with a bit of patience and a couple nice loud "excuse mes". We stopped to ask a store employee where the elevator was when the bottom fell out of the box - and the espresso machine, too. There we stood with our stroller and empty box and espresso machine and parts all over the floor, just steaming with frustration. Suddenly, the rust spot that prompted this whole trip seemed immaterial. The fall broke a piece off of the plastic reservoir and bent part of the metal casing so that the back flap would not close anymore.

We picked up the machine and box separately and made our way through the crowds to the elevator and up to customer service where we told our story. Clearly, the fall and resulting damage were not covered by the factory guarantee that would hopefully cover the rust damage. We argued that had there not been any rust damage, the machine would have never left our house and therefore never been able to fall and, lucky for us, they agreed. If the company does not cover the damage, then the Bijenkorf is going to pay for the repairs.

So there you have it. The story of how our weekend intersected with three lovely models and why we love stores with good customer service!

Still Stitching

I've been busy with Peanut care for the past few weeks, but still managing to keep my hands busy. This little personalization project made for a cute gift for a friend who's just had a baby girl. They're everywhere, these cute little bundles arriving in the big wild world! The idea is borrowed from a crafty neighbor of mine who gave us a shirt with felt applique for our Peanut. I liked the idea of doing the name, though. This was a second baby and it's always hard to figure out what to give them that parents won't already have!



This big old shirt was the starting point for another project. It was given to me as a work "gift" a long time ago. Aside from the style (not me), it's also an extra large. It's safe to say that even the day before I gave birth, this would have been way too big! When I got it out I realized that instead of cutting out the regular pattern, those arms could be useful...



And they were! I cut the arms off as close to the body as I could. Then, I used a pattern for baby pants to figure out how much to cut out for the center seam. That was a combination of guessing and guidance. But it worked out well...



Voila, a second pair of pants (sans elastic here). The red pair I made from a knit tank top that I never wore. This is a great way to recycle clothes that are never going to be worn but are still in good shape. I tried the same with my favorite pajama pants. They got made into a baby romper. Unfortunately, the material is very worn out from being my favorite, so it's already tearing at the snaps and not holding much shape, either. Lesson learned.