No, I Haven't Changed Domains Again

I'm still here, folks. I'm just kinda tired. My mind is also a bit preoccupied these days. I'm three-quarters of the way through A People's History of the United States, and it's pretty much kicking my social-justice-activist-wannabe conscience to the curb. In a good way.

Besides, the sun's been shining all spring-like, so I had to take advantage. Knowing Chicago, we'll be back in the 40's any day now.

Plus, the Tim Lowly Ensemble FINALLY had their CD release show on Friday night. I missed most of the show as I was watching Cadence in the nursery for most of it.

I let her loose in the show towards the end when things started getting a bit more rowdy. She danced like Richard Simmons on speed.

On Saturday, Ted and I watched our friends Holly and Kyle's daughter Helena all day, and we also went to Berry's Seeds of Change Marketplace, which was almost a whole-day affair.

There was a ton of music going on all day, and my good friend John Berton did a couple talks on solar energy.

Cadence had a blast playing w/ her buddies Rudden and Helena for HOURS. We tried to give them a nap in the nursery, but who were we kidding? We're just lucky no blood got shed and that all three kids LOVED chili, since that was the only main food being served at the event.

Oh, by the way, I had a post up on Shutter Sisters on Sunday. Go check it out:
Sunday School: Get Your Flare On

Seeds of Change

Our church, Berry UMC, is part of the Chicago Fair Trade coalition, and yesterday was our semi-annual Seeds of Change marketplace, a fair for local artisans to sell their products as well as other fair trade vendors to sell goods from around the world.

There were also performances during the event, including WNEP Theater's Soireé DADA. Cadence was a bit puzzled and quite captivated by the trio of white-faced decked out DADAists walking, dancing, singing, shouting and otherwise soireé-ing around customers and vendors alike.

This is whole different take on DADA than what we're used to in our family, where DADA generally refers to TED.

Anyhoo, it was a very enjoyable day, and there seemed to be a pretty good-sized turnout, despite the snowy then rainy weather. Our friends Jenn and John and Ada showed up too, so Cadence had someone to play with for a couple hours. I found some really cool ornaments made by a woman named Erin (I think) who used scraps of clothes she didn't want anymore. It's got me thinking I'd like to do some stitching of my own. We're hoping to get a Christmas tree this year, so we'll be needing some ornanments. It'll be Cadence's first tree, and I think she's gonna love it, considering one of her favorite books is about these teddy bears who go and find a Christmas tree, bring it home and decorate it.

I didn't have a Christmas tree growing up because my dad believed that it was a pagan symbol. I was always embarrassed that our family was so different, and I knew some of my classmates thought I was weird. I guess that's why I want so much for our family to have a Christmas tree. I want Cadence to have memories of going to a tree farm and picking a tree, of playing Sufjan's Songs for Christmas while decorating the tree, of making our own ornaments and decorations for the tree. You know--normal, wholesome memories.

I guess you could say I'm planting my own little seeds of change in my family.