stuff

  • make-believe: puzzles etc.

    Our indoor reality right now includes a lot of keeping small humans from mauling each other, making and cleaning up meals at an astonishing rate, and trying to find a quiet corner in 500…

    May 18, 2020 9 Comments
  • habit shift: wearing a face mask.

    As a child, my grandfather lived above an undertaker’s shop on West 25th Street. The building, like my grandfather, is no longer with us, but my uncle sent a photograph of it this week,…

    May 6, 2020 17 Comments
  • make your own: indoor basketball hoop.

    I made an indoor basketball hoop. File that under Things I didn’t Think I’d Be Doing This Spring. I wasn’t sure I’d write about it because it’s cobbled together from things we had at…

    May 4, 2020 8 Comments
  • cloth diapering at home.

    This post is sponsored by Esembly, a diapering system for sustainability. We’re two months into diapering our third baby in cloth and I’ve never been more glad to proselytize. If you haven’t yet converted…

    April 29, 2020 43 Comments
  • baby proof: newborn essentials, revisited.

    Last week, as I tend to do regularly and especially anytime I’m feeling stressed, I spent some time rearranging our linen closet. This time, instead of only folding pillowcases into neat rectangles, I also…

    January 29, 2020 43 Comments
  • baby proof: buy nothing baby.

    I know it’s the season to talk about gifts and buying them, and I’ve got plenty of thoughts on the subject forthcoming, but as I’m roundly (heh) in the need-to-pee-with-great-urgency-every-hour and wow-that-was-quite-a-sensation stage of…

    November 20, 2019 32 Comments
  • simple stuff: china markers.

    By now, you know how I feel about labels. When made by someone else, that sucker’s most likely getting ripped off the minute after it comes in our house. But even when made by…

    November 4, 2019 28 Comments
  • simple stuff: razor blade scraper.

    Every once in a while, I write a round-up of very solid options for very necessary household staples and I put them under the umbrella of simple stuff. Today, I don’t have options to…

    August 6, 2019 16 Comments
  • make your own: corded clothes hanger.

    In New York City there tend to be two types of closets: the ones that are too small and the ones that are non-existent. In this extremely simple project, Rose Pearlman solves for both.…

    June 11, 2019 9 Comments