We've been busy spending time at playgrounds, day trips to the beach and generally enjoying summer. I can't believe it's halfway done already!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
My Solution to Blackout Curtains
I didn't want to pay for the curtains if they weren't going to make Blackbird Jr sleep longer (he has been waking up between 5:30 and 7 am, regardless of what time he goes to bed) and I thought he might freak over paper on his windows so we made Space Windows. I used that tacky poster-hanging stuff to hang them on the windows before bed and we take them down in the morning. It's usually hit and miss how much he will sleep so I think we will just stick with these for now. He can peek out the little stars and circle windows (circles by his request) to look into the backyard, which for some reason is really fun for him. You can also see through the rocketship window but I wasn't clever enough to make that one at a height where he can reach it to see out.
We've been busy spending time at playgrounds, day trips to the beach and generally enjoying summer. I can't believe it's halfway done already!
We've been busy spending time at playgrounds, day trips to the beach and generally enjoying summer. I can't believe it's halfway done already!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Interesting Article About Work from Home Business Offers
Specifically, the home party ones that cater to women and mothers.
Seller Beware: Inside the Insidious, Too-Good-To-Be-True, "Mom Friendly" World of Those Work-From-Home Business Offers from Brain, Child magazine.
Becks, I know you've mentioned before some of what the article mentions, you might be interested.
The other side of the argument and some backlash to the article can be read in the comments here.
Seller Beware: Inside the Insidious, Too-Good-To-Be-True, "Mom Friendly" World of Those Work-From-Home Business Offers from Brain, Child magazine.
Becks, I know you've mentioned before some of what the article mentions, you might be interested.
The other side of the argument and some backlash to the article can be read in the comments here.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Mama Merit Badges
From the Mama Merit Badges website:
This badge is earned early on in most parenting careers. For keeping your cool when your 3 year sobs inconsolably for a half an hour because he wants to catch a lizard and tape it to the wall so it won't get away or your 5 year old throws stuff at you and slams doors while yelling "whatever! I hate you!"
See their site for more badges.
Dragons, Corn Mazes, Sunken Ships and Festivals
We went earlier this week to check out the new Dragons:Between Science and Fiction exhibit at the Royal Alberta Museum and it was well worth the trip. I plan on going to see it again before it leaves in September. Right when you walk in there is a huge globe with fascinating metal sculptures of dragon representations from different parts of the world. Other highlights for me were a dancing baby dragon skeleton (weird and slightly creepy, but cute too), some carved wooden furniture and just reading a lot about the history of dragons. The exhibit is very well done, lots to see and the gallery created a good atmosphere for the exhibit.
Upstairs in one of the smaller galleries they also have an exhibit about a ship that sunk a couple of years after the Titanic- the Empress of Ireland. It's story is far less well known, likely because it sunk right around the time WWI started so the story was overshadowed. There are photos of the ship, stories from survivors, items retreived from the sunken ship and videos of what the ship looks like now on the bottom of the ocean. I was pleased to see they had a little toy boat table in the display as well so Blackbird Jr played while I was able to read more about the exhibit.
There are a couple of cool things coming soon to the city as well- one is the green festival my friend K told me about. It'll be at the Devonian Gardens and I've been meaning to go there for a while.
And, in honour of the Indy, check out this year's corn maze design! We will definitely be trying to navigate our way through it sometime this summer.
We've also been to the Street Performer's Festival twice this week and both times my favourite performer was Captain Arr. He does a show in the children's area that is well worth seeing. The second time we saw him both Mr Blackbird and the son of a friend got a chance to participate in the show as well. They have another children's magic show called Blizzard the Wizard but Blackbird Jr was pretty freaked when he put a box on his clown's head and stuck knives in it.. maybe save that one for the older kids.
Upstairs in one of the smaller galleries they also have an exhibit about a ship that sunk a couple of years after the Titanic- the Empress of Ireland. It's story is far less well known, likely because it sunk right around the time WWI started so the story was overshadowed. There are photos of the ship, stories from survivors, items retreived from the sunken ship and videos of what the ship looks like now on the bottom of the ocean. I was pleased to see they had a little toy boat table in the display as well so Blackbird Jr played while I was able to read more about the exhibit.
There are a couple of cool things coming soon to the city as well- one is the green festival my friend K told me about. It'll be at the Devonian Gardens and I've been meaning to go there for a while.
And, in honour of the Indy, check out this year's corn maze design! We will definitely be trying to navigate our way through it sometime this summer.
We've also been to the Street Performer's Festival twice this week and both times my favourite performer was Captain Arr. He does a show in the children's area that is well worth seeing. The second time we saw him both Mr Blackbird and the son of a friend got a chance to participate in the show as well. They have another children's magic show called Blizzard the Wizard but Blackbird Jr was pretty freaked when he put a box on his clown's head and stuck knives in it.. maybe save that one for the older kids.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Crafting, Reading, Listening
What I've been working on- Blackbird Jr's Christmas stocking. Incredibly time-consuming. That little teddy bear? About 6 hours of work, just for the teddy. I'm taking another break from this project and will start stitching again in the fall to hopefully finish for this Christmas.
Currently reading The Historian. A long, detailed vampire story with suprisingly little interaction with vampires thus far. Told from the point of view of a historian and his daughter. Lots of european history. I find this one interesting for the history and the storyteller does a really good job of creating suspense without overdoing it.
In the last week I also read Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay and Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong. Late Nights was a good story about a group of people working at a CBC radio station in Yellowknife, with evocative descriptions of the north and interesting characters. Personal Demon is the latest from the Women of the Otherwold series, which is complete fluff but fun to read and I appreciate the strong female leads. My only beef with Personal Demon was that Hope seemed to need more rescuing by her male suitor than some of the other characters. I hope this isn't a trend with the series, because the kickass female leads like Elena are the reason I read it.
Listening to Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult. I'm enjoying this one and have been listening to it while stitching and while folding laundry or doing the dishes. You can read the prologue on amazon and it had me hooked from the beginning. Excerpt from amazon.
Currently reading The Historian. A long, detailed vampire story with suprisingly little interaction with vampires thus far. Told from the point of view of a historian and his daughter. Lots of european history. I find this one interesting for the history and the storyteller does a really good job of creating suspense without overdoing it.
In the last week I also read Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay and Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong. Late Nights was a good story about a group of people working at a CBC radio station in Yellowknife, with evocative descriptions of the north and interesting characters. Personal Demon is the latest from the Women of the Otherwold series, which is complete fluff but fun to read and I appreciate the strong female leads. My only beef with Personal Demon was that Hope seemed to need more rescuing by her male suitor than some of the other characters. I hope this isn't a trend with the series, because the kickass female leads like Elena are the reason I read it.
Listening to Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult. I'm enjoying this one and have been listening to it while stitching and while folding laundry or doing the dishes. You can read the prologue on amazon and it had me hooked from the beginning. Excerpt from amazon.
From Publishers Weekly
Picoult ( Songs of the Humpback Whales ) brings her considerable talents to this contemporary story of a young woman in search of her identity. Abandoned by her mother when she was five years old, Paige O'Toole has been left with painful doubts about her self-worth. She leaves her Chicago home for Cambridge, Mass., at 18 to fulfill herself as an artist, but must work in a diner because she can't afford art school. When she marries Harvard medical student Nicholas Prescott, his parents disown him, disapproving of their Irish Catholic daughter-in-law. Again Paige is forced to sideline her creative needs and work as a waitress in order to support Nicholas until he is able to establish his career as a cardiac surgeon. Paige is soon overwhelmed by the demands of Nicholas's socially sophisticated world, and after the birth of their son, Max, she becomes emotionally and physically exhausted. Unable to communicate her terrors about herself to Nicholas, she leaves him to search for her mother, who may hold the answers to her life. Told in flashbacks, this is a realistic story of childhood and adolescence, the demands of motherhood, the hard paths of personal growth and the generosity of spirit required by love. Picoult's imagery is startling and brilliant; her characters move credibly through this affecting drama.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
