The photo book turned out to be lovely, and I'm very happy with it. Hooray for My Publisher!
Last week Gwen came out with me to the church to add all the books donated in the past several months to the church collection. I just got a new order of books in yesterday (hooray!) and so we'll be doing it again this coming Monday. Here's to hoping Cade is in a better mood when we go next. It's hard to get something done when he insists on being played with and held the whole time. Aah, the joys of being a mom.
Jer went to the dentist to get a consulation about his wisdom teeth, and he'll be getting them removed this coming summer. I remember getting mine out. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't exactly fun either. It's like pulling teeth.
Saturday evening was the birthday party for a two-year old of our acquaintance, so we all bundled up to head out to a local hotel pool for a swim, a chat, and some birthday cake. We had a great time, aside from poor cold Cade. He wasn't a big fan of all the echoey noise, nor did he like the temperature of the big pool. He was abnormally silent and still for most of the swim, until we warmed him up well in the hot tub. I happily took part in a "see how long you can swim underwater" contest with the guys, and was pleased to fair as one of the better contestants. All those swimming lessons finally paid off!
Tonight is my 'night off' from the kid. I'm thinking I'll head into town and do some shopping. Maybe mall shopping, maybe grocery shopping, maybe just a lot of browsing. I don't want to spend much this month since I did end up buying that lovely coat I had my eye on - it was half off and I decided not to pass it up for that price. Thus the window shopping. Window shopping is good for you, right? Wait, I wonder what's on at the movies? I'll have to go check that out as an alternative. I never mind catching a good flick!
Well, I'm off to play with Cade for awhile. His mom has been incommunicado on the computer for long enough!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
books and tiles and books
I've read a few stunningly good books in the past few months, and wanted to share my book joy. The first book is called 'The Sweetness at the Bottom of the pie' by Alan Bradley. It has got to have the best first chapter, bar none, that I have ever read. It's just great. The rest of the book is well done too, though not quite to the same level as the first chapter. It's a quirky, amusing light read about an 11 year old chemist and amateur sleuth whose shenanigans keep the whole mystery of 'who killed for the stamp' a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.
I also had the pleasure of picking up one of Terry Pratchett's books on a lark. I haven't read any of his work thus far, and was happily surprised by this book. It's clever, it's witty, and it's a bit ridiculous at the same time. It takes place in a well-orchestrated world where some things are the same as here, and some things are normal there that we don't exactly go in for. Like a wizards' university. A kind orc. And a one crazy game of soccer / kick the can. Suspend your disbelief, put your uptight glasses on the shelf for a more serious read, and enjoy this delightful romp through literature.
PS - the photo attached to this post is the updated tiles in my kitchen. I still love them dearly, though they're now several weeks old and the ultra-new-shine has worn off, replaced by a few kitchen spatters.
I also had the pleasure of picking up one of Terry Pratchett's books on a lark. I haven't read any of his work thus far, and was happily surprised by this book. It's clever, it's witty, and it's a bit ridiculous at the same time. It takes place in a well-orchestrated world where some things are the same as here, and some things are normal there that we don't exactly go in for. Like a wizards' university. A kind orc. And a one crazy game of soccer / kick the can. Suspend your disbelief, put your uptight glasses on the shelf for a more serious read, and enjoy this delightful romp through literature.
PS - the photo attached to this post is the updated tiles in my kitchen. I still love them dearly, though they're now several weeks old and the ultra-new-shine has worn off, replaced by a few kitchen spatters.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Martha is:
- thrilled that she just bought 2 tickets to see Jonny Lang
- feeling like she'll have to cull a child as she sorts through her photo book looking for the least longed-for page to remove
- super excited that cousin Kate's furniture is finally arriving
- sad that with buying the Jonny Lang tickets, she will no longer be able to afford the beautiful coat she tried on a few weeks ago
- happy to have wasted an hour reading Robin McKinley's site and blog. Her writing never fails to amuse. I also have a love/hate relationship with her need to italicize
- wanting to start about 5 different projects tonight. It's a pity there's only an hour 'til bedtime. And that's stretching it.
- internally laughing that Cafepress has a customized landing page for a design I've never sold a shirt for (and yes, I realize it's just a page populated by tags. But it's still funny!)
- pigging out on cupcakes. They're just that good.
- wasting precious time on Shelfari. Oh, for the love of books!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Monkey Monkey Underpants
I've been designing more logos and pictures for t-shirts again lately, for my cafepress shops. This picture is a Gilmore Girls reference, where Lorelai is talking about her stream of consciousness, and ended up with "Hockey puck, rattlesnakake, monkey monkey underpants". It was really funny at the time.
I had a movie night with the girls on Thursday, we watched Harry Potter 6 and played Scene It. It was good to have some people over again.
I'm also working on our 2009 digital photo album. I'm making it using the MyPublisher.com software again. I've made two albums with them so far, and have been really pleased with both the print quality and the software's ease of use. My mom is trying it out now too, and she's also enjoying the program. Basically you add your photos and text, and get a coffee-table quality book of all your pictures printed off and mailed to you. Hooray for photo books!
Cade is currently sick, with a runny nose, a bit of a fever, and a dry little cough. He's not feeling too bad though, which is nice. It means I still get my sleep! Cade has also discovered that he can push his stand-up toys around the house, and we had to install a child gate at the top of the stairs after I found that he'd gotten himself to the other corner of the house by pushing his piano! He's still a happy kid, and is very clever and brave - he'll figure out how to get places you didn't think he could. He will take chances on moving between his toy and the couch or TV stand, and just kind of lean forward to whichever object he can't quite reach. He falls a lot, but doesn't usually mind too much. I'm happy about that!
Tonight I'm heading off to Jess' birthday party, so hooray for that!
I had a movie night with the girls on Thursday, we watched Harry Potter 6 and played Scene It. It was good to have some people over again.
I'm also working on our 2009 digital photo album. I'm making it using the MyPublisher.com software again. I've made two albums with them so far, and have been really pleased with both the print quality and the software's ease of use. My mom is trying it out now too, and she's also enjoying the program. Basically you add your photos and text, and get a coffee-table quality book of all your pictures printed off and mailed to you. Hooray for photo books!
Cade is currently sick, with a runny nose, a bit of a fever, and a dry little cough. He's not feeling too bad though, which is nice. It means I still get my sleep! Cade has also discovered that he can push his stand-up toys around the house, and we had to install a child gate at the top of the stairs after I found that he'd gotten himself to the other corner of the house by pushing his piano! He's still a happy kid, and is very clever and brave - he'll figure out how to get places you didn't think he could. He will take chances on moving between his toy and the couch or TV stand, and just kind of lean forward to whichever object he can't quite reach. He falls a lot, but doesn't usually mind too much. I'm happy about that!
Tonight I'm heading off to Jess' birthday party, so hooray for that!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The headband snap
It's been a long time since I've bloged. A long time. Close to a month, in fact! I'm trying to remember what's happened.
The biggest thing that happened was, of course, Christmas. We started by heading down to Edmonton to visit J's family - Cade's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and a great-uncle or two as well. It was a busy, enjoyable time. It was great to see everyone again. Grandpapa taught Cade how to play soccer - or at least kick a ball, toddle after it, and kick it again. It's his new favorite game. Cade managed to fuss enough that he also spent about half of each night sleeping with Mom and Dad, which meant that none of us got very much sleep. We got our traditional family photos taken, and are hoping to have our sets of prints by the end of January - a shot of Cade, one of our family (the three of us), and one of the whole family. It was more fun than usual this year trying to get a good photo, since we now have two babies in the mix. We also went to see Avatar, my first 3D movie since Michael Jackson in my teens. Avatar was really well done, and I had a great time watching it. Go James Cameron!
We then stopped by the Elves' for lunch and a little visit, and to show Cade off. He was introduced to the first dogs he'd ever met, and did pretty well - he wasn't scared, but did pull a bit of fur.
We still had an extra four days or so left, and were halfway to the Snips' place, so we figured that we'd drive on down and surprise them. And surprise them we did! Everyone was thrilled to have us visiting, and we managed to get two visits with the now great-grandparents in. I got a chance to buy a new swimsuit and swim some rowdy laps at the pool where I grew up swimming, and had fun trying to teach Maria elementary back. I think she's got the basics down. Now it's just the final product finesse-ing that's left to be done.
Oh, and we all got riotously sick over New Years. It turned out to be a stomach virus, so we all threw up, blew out the other end, and slept several days away. It was gloriously horrible. Thank goodness we're all recovered now!
Well, I'm off to continue working on my digital photo album for 2009 - this will be my third year making one. Great print quality, good price and good service - check out mypublisher.com. And no, this was not an endorsed advertisement. I really do love the product! Huzzah.
The biggest thing that happened was, of course, Christmas. We started by heading down to Edmonton to visit J's family - Cade's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and a great-uncle or two as well. It was a busy, enjoyable time. It was great to see everyone again. Grandpapa taught Cade how to play soccer - or at least kick a ball, toddle after it, and kick it again. It's his new favorite game. Cade managed to fuss enough that he also spent about half of each night sleeping with Mom and Dad, which meant that none of us got very much sleep. We got our traditional family photos taken, and are hoping to have our sets of prints by the end of January - a shot of Cade, one of our family (the three of us), and one of the whole family. It was more fun than usual this year trying to get a good photo, since we now have two babies in the mix. We also went to see Avatar, my first 3D movie since Michael Jackson in my teens. Avatar was really well done, and I had a great time watching it. Go James Cameron!
We then stopped by the Elves' for lunch and a little visit, and to show Cade off. He was introduced to the first dogs he'd ever met, and did pretty well - he wasn't scared, but did pull a bit of fur.
We still had an extra four days or so left, and were halfway to the Snips' place, so we figured that we'd drive on down and surprise them. And surprise them we did! Everyone was thrilled to have us visiting, and we managed to get two visits with the now great-grandparents in. I got a chance to buy a new swimsuit and swim some rowdy laps at the pool where I grew up swimming, and had fun trying to teach Maria elementary back. I think she's got the basics down. Now it's just the final product finesse-ing that's left to be done.
Oh, and we all got riotously sick over New Years. It turned out to be a stomach virus, so we all threw up, blew out the other end, and slept several days away. It was gloriously horrible. Thank goodness we're all recovered now!
Well, I'm off to continue working on my digital photo album for 2009 - this will be my third year making one. Great print quality, good price and good service - check out mypublisher.com. And no, this was not an endorsed advertisement. I really do love the product! Huzzah.
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