art family home observations

Feng Shui Insight

Bit by bit, load by load, Hubby and I are moving our stuff from storage into our house. Yesterday, we brought home some of our artwork, hanging a couple of pieces and arranging others. I was happy to hang a painting of sunflowers that was in my childhood home and somehow became mine. It was like seeing an old friend again. I also placed my Grandpa Jens’ painting on the mantle above one of our…

Continue reading

family home observations

Junk Mail Pet Peeve

Now that we’ve moved into a new house, we are getting junk mail again. Apparently, as soon as you’ve signed the papers to buy a house, your name and new address get spread far and wide to advertisers, who make sure you get a flood of “Welcome to the Neighborhood” mailings. On one hand, it’s nice to get mail when you first move in. It gives you a sense of what businesses are in the…

Continue reading

design observations product packaging

Your Child WILL Defeat This Lock

It’s been a while since I’ve found product packaging that strikes me as strange or curious enough to share, but I recently ran across something that fits the bill. A child safety lock, the type that is plastic and loops over a couple of cupboard knobs to keep them held shut, contained packaging language that made me question why anyone would buy the product. The text on the back of the package, reproduced in the…

Continue reading

challenge design observations technology

Engineered for Babies

Recently, I have had occasion to take care of a young child. Having raised three children, you’d think this would be easy for me. For the most part it is. I can weather the constant shifting of emotions and change in activities by using the art of distraction like a pro. I can swiftly change a diaper or an outfit as though I’m wrangling an eel (which I kind of am!). But, navigating baby gear…

Continue reading

music observations technology

Twitter Requiem – Join Me at Mastodon

When I pinned a portion of the lyrics to Duran Duran’s song “Future Past” on my Twitter feed on December 31, 2021, little did I know they would serve as a requiem for the site. If you’ve not been following the Twitter saga, gazillionaire Elon Musk, who seems to have more money than sense, purchased Twitter and has been burning it all to the ground in the course of a few weeks. I have been…

Continue reading