crunchy parenting

Yes, that's snow.

My mother is from Malaysia, my father from Sri Lanka, but I’m pretty white bread on the inside. I grew up here in Los Angeles, California and after moving around a bit in my 20′s, settle back here. I think the Asian-ness runs out with cooking, some Eastern religious ideas and my childhood. After that, it’s really been all Krispy Kremes, scuffed up Chuck Taylors and hanging out in pool halls with a mug of Guinness and listening to Ozzy.

I married a 6’2″ Danish viking with such blond hair and blue eyes that would put Sookie’s Eric to shame. My lovely, handsome spouse-unit!

We travel a LOT. We go to Malaysia to visit with family and friends every year or so. The spouse-unit is from Denmark and I have family in the UK, so we’re also in Europe quite often. Spice made her first jaunt to England at 5 months and has been on at least one plane every six months since then. As someone once told me, my fetuses are more well-traveled than the average American.

My sweet Harley.

In my past incarnation former life life before SAHMhood, I was a geek. A professional, card-carrying geek that specialized in web development and user interfaces. (Yeah, I made sure websites looked pretty and worked well.) I’ve worked for big giant companies and done private consulting for my own company and even did the whole tech startup thing. Then I had Spice, seriously lost some brain cells and decided to stay home and knit until they grow back.

We live in a small house in the Hollywood Hills (don’t get any ideas; we’ve got the cheapest house on the block!) raising my supersweet toddler, Spice and our darling baby girl, Ginny. We have one cat, “everybody’s favorite cat”, Harley Quinn (yes, I love Batman) and many, many squirrels outside.  :-)

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What I think makes me crunchy:

• Most of the food in our fridge is either organic, local or homegrown.
• I don’t buy canned food because of the BPA risk, unless it’s something I’d sell the cat for, like a hard-to-find can of English Ambrosia rice pudding.
• I’m really into the ideals of Waldorf education.
• I’d love to homeschool, if I wasn’t terrified I’d mess it up somehow. I’m trying, anyway.
• I don’t let my kid watch TV, other than some carefully selected Max & Ruby, or Bamse & Kylling.
• We don’t have any electronic toys. The only plastic toys she has are for the bathtub or the sandbox.
• I aimed for a homebirth. It almost worked the first time. And we had a wonderful waterbirth the second time!
• I breastfed Spice until she was almost two. Then, she self-weaned.
• We still co-sleep and will continue for a while.
• I cloth-diapered until the toddler poop became too gross. Now, we use biodegradable, compostable diapers. Back to cloth diapers, with Ginny!
• I’m a true believer in more babywearing and less strollers/carseats/swings/bumbos/jumpers, etc.
• I love gardening and growing things.
• I clean most of the house with simple things like baking soda, vinegar & essential oil. The house feels cleaner for it.
• I love vegan desserts. All that fattening coconut milk…
• I love the idea of getting my craft on and making stuff rather than buying it.
• I still cry over puppy mills and factory farming. Only now, I do it AFTER crying over the plight of hungry children.

What I think makes me not-so-crunchy:

• We still have a TV. I need my TiVo’d True Blood fix.
• I have a crippling weakness for cheap packaged ramen and Funyuns.
• I’m a computer geek, through and through. If there’s a way to techno-fy it, you’d better believe I’ve thought of it and am trying to resist the urge.
• I love my car, a VW GTI. The thing is fast and I refuse to ruin my joy of speeding in it with guilt over gas pollution or oil dependence. (As sucky as those things are.)
• Sometimes, I really do miss bleach.
• I can’t stand the vegan mecca of L.A., Real Food Daily.
• I own not one, but two three(!) strollers. And a baby swing.
• I’m handspinning-disabled. I try it every so often and end up frustrated, in tears, and in tangles.
• I’ve never composted our compostable diapers.
• I suck at gardening and growing things.
• I still love eating meat. (Bring on the In-N-Out!)