Cool Stuff: Amy Butler Bedding

While I haven’t sewn anything of consequence in quite a while, I’ve kept an eye on my favorite textile and pattern designer, Amy Butler, via her website. Last night I was thrilled to discover that she has created a line of 100% organic bedding that went on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond last month (and by that I mean they are selling it, not they’ve reduced the price… unfortuantely). I’m a little disapointed with the color-selection– either black and white or super bold colors (I’ve always admired Butler for her use of earth tones with wild and bold graphics), but I think I still like the line on the whole.

Check it out!

the survival narrative

This is what I’ve been thinking about lately (while I should be thinking about papers, of course). I tend to see hip-hop/rap music as poetry, and I’ve become fascinated and maybe even fixated by what it has to say about community, national identity, and of course, the narration of survival. I’ll qualify that, because obviously “Blame it on the al-al-al-al-al-alcholol” isn’t exactly poetic.

I don’t think I have any awesome analysis yet, but it’s worth checking out these songs and thinking about them a little, even if you disagree with the politics.

Lyrics

Unfortunately, this is the censored version, but I can’t seem to find the original:

Lyrics

You may, like my husband, think I’m digging too deep into something that is meant to be “entertainment,” but I’m not quite there isn’t something to be grasped here about us, the community of people who calls themselves Americans.

Using Fuelly to track MPG

The rising, falling, and again rising gas prices, combined with both of us headed back to school has definitely piqued my interest in our car’s fuel economy. Our Cute Lil’ Suzuki is doing alright (darn well for a four-wheel drive SUV), and I know that because I’ve been regularly tracking my fuel economy with Fuelly.

Although tracking your vehicle’s MPG on paper is easy enough, Fuelly makes it a little more interesting by charting the variations in fuel-economy, calculating your average cost per mile, keeping track of how much you’ve spent on gas, and totalling the ammount of miles you’re driving. It also provides helpful tips on how to increase  your fuel economy, like properly inflating your tires and getting your oil changed regularly.

Cleaning Product Junky Review: The Magic Eraser Mop

Lamar says: “How can you go wrong with a mop that has a bald white man on the front?”

Apparently you really can’t, because the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Mop is one of the best cleaning products I’ve reviewed in a while (though in fact, it’s probably the only cleaning product I’ve reviewed in quite some time).

The Pros:

• This mop did a great job of removing both the everyday dirt on the surface of my nasty old linoleum and the ground in grime. It even removed the black streaks from Lamar’s dark rubber-soled shoes (normally a hands-and-knees job). As I mopped the floor I could literally see the difference in color between the bright white newly cleaned sections and the still dirty surrounding areas.
• Like the original Magic Eraser sponge, the product can be used without any additional chemicals, though the box does recommend adding an all-purpose cleaner to your mopwater for extra oomph.
• The price (about $13 at Target) doesn’t completely wipe out my cleaning product budget for the month.
• Yes, I do budget for my cleaning products!

The Cons:

• Unfortunately, like my  beloved sponge Magic Eraser, this product is going to wear out pretty quickly. Although the information on the box says the mophead wears out “after many uses over a long period of time” I can already tell that this little puppy probably won’t last more than a dozen moppings, which makes the cost of use significantly higher than just the start-up cost (replacement heads are somewhere around $5 each).
• This mop is not safe for wood or laminent floors.
• This mophead is soft throughout (no abbrasive “scrubbing” area), which means I still had to get down on my hands and knees to scrape the dried tomatoe seeds off the floor.

Squeaky Clean Analysis: I like the fact that this product (mostly) gets me up off my hands and knees while still getting the floor really, really clean, but I wish the goodness would last longer.