Mosaic Minds.

After three years and twenty-three issues, it is time to say goodbye to Mosaic Minds. Inspiration and interest has waned. In January, we decided to become a quarterly magazine after a hiatus to fix the last issue, with a caveat that we would re-evaluate next year. Unfortunately, as the months passed without an issue, what we--I--learned was that not stressing out over putting out a new issue every six weeks was actually quite nice. Meanwhile, the issue never did come together, and depressing, anxious emails were sent while we tried to figure out what to do. Carrie (the editor) sent out the email today to officially close the project.

I feel both sad and relieved--on one hand, it was a lot of work, but it was a pretty impressive little project, if I do say so myself, and I think everyone who was involved would agree. We started out on a whim, and kept it up for over three years. I think we all learned a lot, and best of all have been the friendships that have developed. We were friends to begin with, but I think we became quite a bit closer (you know who you are.) So now I am just reminding myself that we didn't sign up for forever, so on a personal level, this is a pretty good time to call it quits if we're going to. I am in a pretty obvious transition stage of life. I have been pretty worried about how I would be able to manage Mosaic Minds and a newborn and a full-time job.

Bye bye, MM. I'll miss you. Sort of.

shopping, mainly

I slept for over twelve hours last night, which was oh-so-lovely. I have been operating on too little sleep lately. I showered last night before bed, and had my wonderful, delicious husband change the sheets, solely in hopes that I could sleep well. It worked! I did, however, dream that we took baby Ducky to daycare, and when we returned that evening, she was walking and talking and she didn't recognize us anymore. GEE, I WONDER WHAT THAT IS SUPPOSED TO MEAN. *sigh* I don't want to talk about that just now.

We went on a shopping expedition today, or at least we tried to. Much as always, we ended up spending more in gas than we did in actual purchases, and more in food than on gas. Seriously, we went with the intention of buying everything that we need and don't have, and you know what we came home with? One yellow swaddley thing, and we have a strong feeling that the girl won't even like it. We did stop at the wow-hippie store and talked to the lady about slings. I want one. I didn't end up buying one because wow, they are expensive. Do any of you know much about slings? Dawn? I looked at a wrap and a ring sling. Both of them had things that I liked about them and both were sixty bucks. (I think the wrap was a Moby and the ring was an EllaRoo.) I liked how the wrap could be so very discreet while nursing, but the ring sling seemed cooler and more comfortable. I gather that these are name-brands. Is it worth sixty bucks? Part of me thinks that the construction is not that difficult (especially of the wrap, since it consisted of what, eighteen feet of fabric without seams or anything?) and shouldn't I just make my own? Or at least order a generic/WAHM version online? I really rather wanted to just go ahead and buy one but I wasn't sure which one I should get and if I would get home and find out that I bought something for sixty dollars that I could have gotten for thirty online. On the other other hand, I like the idea of supporting this store. I could not make myself get into the babywearing research because I have done ENOUGH with the diapers, so it was greatly relieving to walk into the store, talk to a very nice, knowledgeable woman and let her demonstrate them all. Now I wish that I had just bought one and gotten it over with, but I didn't and now I don't know when I'll get back to Lexington to buy the stupid thing. Bah. I could just order one from her website but that seems dumb since I do live close enough to just go pick it up. Anyone have an opinion on what I should buy?

Speaking of an opinion of what to buy.. the little birdies keep saying that we need a place for the duckling to sleep for the first while in our room. We have looked at a cosleeper option (M hates it because the only one they had was "horribly ugly") and a bassinet option (which I don't like because how can you tell me that bumper pads are evil because they restrict air flow and cause SIDS and then have bassinets without mesh sides?) and a playpen option. The playpens are cheaper and can be used later as.. well.. playpens, although I guess a cloth-diapering, babywearing, breastfeeding (I hope!) mama isn't supposed to talk about about potentially caging her baby. ;) You know, I really hang out in some awful places online, don't I? I think that comes through sometimes. Anyway, they are kind of big and we have a small room, which is a drawback, and they look pretty uncomfortable to me. I just hate buying something that can only be used for a short while, I guess. I'd rather not just cosleep in the same bed because it scares me--not that other people do it at all, but for myself personally since we barely have enough room for the two of us to sleep as it is. Again, we chickened out on actually purchasing anything, but we are running out of time to make a decision.

In the second store we went to, I broke out in a cold sweat, and walked miserably around the third store until we finally decided to go home. The problem with these shopping expeditions these days--there are plenty of things we could spend money on, but I lack the energy to actually find them. I guess that's nature's way of making sure there's enough money to provide for a child when it arrives.... or maybe I should just start ordering things online tomorrow and get it over with. One or the other. We actually don't have much left to buy, though, after the showers. The sleeping thing is the big one. So, WWTID? (what would the internet do?)