Archive for the 'books' Category

Book Giveaway - Drawing!

May 1st, 2008

Whoops, I forgot to do the random number generator last night! But I did first thing this morning, and Beth's number was the lucky one! Congrats Beth! I wish I had one for all of you, but I'm happy to lend my copy out when I'm finished with it (Paige? Kris? Loren?) So Beth, I'll bring along the book this weekend when I'll be seeing you!

Additionally, I wanted to apologize to everyone who has commented for the past few weeks. A) I've been really busy and not replying to email as I should be and B) complicating this, is that my spam filter has not been working right. "Real" emails have been going in my spam filter, and tons of spam has been landing in my main inbox. Since I get so much spam, weeding through and sorting it out can be overwhelming to the point where I quickly scan for "real" mail and delete the whole lot of them in frustration.  I think I have it fixed now, so hopefully my former comment etiquette will return.


I was told there’d be a giveaway?

April 24th, 2008

Even with the older three kids back in school this week, I've been soooo busy.

With all this great weather, I've started spring cleaning in earnest. Opening windows to air out - Cleaning out drawers and closets - Consolidating items left out of season in the kid's cubby - And hopefully before the weekend I can start on the yearly "thinning of the toys". I swear, Cassidy's Barbies and the boys action figures have been hooking up after the lights go out, purely to reproduce and stage a coup.

Connor also had his special ed and psychological re-eval on Monday, which is was nearly a whole day event seeing as how I got terribly lost trying to find where we needed to go. Picture me driving around East Syracuse looking for a road that seemingly didn't exist (no sign!) and a gas station that had a phone book. All of this because I rushed out the door so quickly, leaving the address on the dining room table, and my cell phone on the kitchen counter.

The evaluations went well though. We'll wrap them up today with a home visit later this afternoon with the special education evaluator. But in the end, he scored lower than I think any of us expected him to. Its a very weird feeling as a mother, hearing his scores. In that, I wanted him to evaluate poorly enough that the CPSE would have fewer arguments at the next meeting to negotiate him out of attending an integrated classroom, as they did last year. But I also wanted my baby to score well because he is so smart! I know other moms with special needs kids will understand my personal conflict.. and know just how terribly difficult to verbalize.

The crochet project? It grows. No pictorial updates however, because it hasn't grown that much. I did get quite a lot done last night while watching There Will Be Blood with Richard. We didn't like it. Incredible acting.. Incredible. But the movie itself? Ehhhh. Mostly, I've gotten so little done because there was this thing called the Pennsylvania Democratic primary going on. Between watching cable news, reading my favorite political blogs, and spending some time making calls for Obama - crafting took a back seat.

And now we get to the part where you say, "I was told there'd be a giveaway?" after reading my rambling update which clearly doesn't match the title of my post..

I Was Told There\'d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

I'm reading I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I love essays, particularly ones that make me laugh out loud. But additionally interesting, is that Sloane creates dioramas capturing the scenes in many of her essays.

As Cassidy is recently obsessed with creating dioramas, we love to look at Sloane's flickr album where you can see them take shape a piece at a time. Plastic spoons as subway seats and a hazelnut as a turd. Maybe I'm odd in that craft geek sort of way, but find it very interesting.

And now for the giveaway.. I have an extra copy of the book, sitting here on the desk, ready to ship out. Getting it is as easy as leaving a comment here. Nothing else. Just leave a comment by Wednesday April 30th, 2008. I'll use the handy number randomizer to pick a comment and send the book along for your reading enjoyment.

Good luck!


*sniffle sniffle* and a meme

April 3rd, 2008

.. or a meme and how it relates to the sniffles?

Nan tagged me for a meme over the weekend, but while I expected to complete it earlier this week, I was hit hard with some sort of viral nastiness. So, since my week thus far as been nothing but viral nastiness, I bring you my meme..

Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog, including an illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so that it can be tracked as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag at least five more blogs with links. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

  • Nyquil
  • Sniffling - Sneezing
  • coughing - Aching
  • Stuffyhead - Fever
  • So You Can Rest - or not.

So now I'm tagging, hmm.. Cass, Loren, Beth, Daisy, and KaKi. And yes I know I cheated.. I used way more than six words.

If I weren't so sick this week, perhaps my meme would look different. But being this sick has its benefits. I'm nearly finished with a pair of socks that I started to knit on the way to PA on Saturday. And I finished The Kite Runner (not as good as A Thousand Splendid Suns, but only slightly so).

I know lots of family have been visiting hoping for our pictures of Grammy's 80th birthday party from last weekend, but I haven't gotten around to downsizing them from their original 20+meg size yet. Viral nastiness leaves little patience/energy for sitting at a computer futzing in Photoshop. But I am hoping that Richard will set aside some time before the weekend to show me how to do them as a batch.. all 150 of them so I can upload them to Flickr. I even have some video - my favorite is Danny and Jay playing Guitar Hero (who knew Danny could rock like that?) But the funniest one is the one where I zoom in on the "meter" and watch it quickly plunge to red while they try to do Slayer on "easy mode" - it was hilarious! For an idea of how hard this song is, here is a video of someone playing it on expert mode (omg!) And by the way, I must buy Guitar Hero, as soon as financially possible - I'm addicted.


Chocolate Cherry - Yum!

February 29th, 2008

Stats for the interested..

Pattern: Charade Socks by Sandra Park

Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Fingering in Chocolate Cherry, Purchased at Mission Rose

Needles: 5" US1 (2.25mm) Surina wood double pointed needles (I loooove these needles - short.pointy.perfect)

I surprised myself with the speed in which I was able to finish the second sock (ends woven in before LOST came on last night.) But I totally credit listening to audio books while knitting for my speediness. This is my new favorite thing.

I received a membership to Audible.com from Richard for Valentines Day and its the best gift I've received in quite a while. Currently I'm listening to The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. A book that I own but have only half read over the past year. I've had a hard time really getting "into" it. Perhaps because its a genre I'm not normally inclined to pick up? Take some V.C. Andrews style screwed up family drama, add a ghost story, with a touch of mystery, all incredibly written. I like the style of writing but it really isn't something I'd typically spend time on. I am however, enjoying listening to it.. in fact I can't stop. I've been obsessively listening for 2 days now, even turning on my iPod when I'm cooking dinner to get a few spare minutes.

So.. now I need to find a new sock pattern to work on. I suppose I'll go stroll through my Ravelry queue to find a pattern, dig in my sock yarn stash for something pretty.. and cast on. At this rate, I may finish another pair of socks before I finish the audio book!


The “first annual” birthday surprise contest.

November 1st, 2007

In a few days, on Sunday to be exact, I will celebrate my first annual 39th birthday. This is a big milestone, no? Well, maybe it isn't since I plan to celebrate the same birthday every year from here on out.

So I'd like to entertain a little reversal here, and have a little contest. No answering questions, no donations to charities, just leave a comment telling me about a favorite birthday present you've received. I'll pick one at random on Sunday, November 4th and put together a little surprise package for the winner. See, as much as I love receiving surprises.. I adore putting together surprises for others. If the winner is a knitter or spinner, perhaps you'll get a nice fibery surprise in the mail. If you're not, maybe an Amazon or iTunes gift certificate... I have lots of ideas!

And here, I'll get you started. What is my favorite birthday present? Cassidy! She was born just a few months shy of my 30th birthday, and I had always wanted a baby before I turned 30 (weird.. I know!) But besides all of that, Richard and I were both surprised, since we had always thought our path to parenthood would be a difficult one. We were looking at facing lengthy and heartbreaking fertility cycles.. then there it was.. a positive pregnancy test, all on our own. And after a rocky first trimester, when we were expecting the worst to happen every day, despite bed rest and progesterone supplements, we were truly blessed... just in time to fulfill my 30th birthday wish.

Now, go, and tell me all about your favorite birthday present! As you can tell, it doesn't have to be a "thing", it can be "the perfect day", a great meal... anything.

P.S. Scorpios Rule!


Harry Potter Knitting

July 27th, 2007

I'm in total Harry Potter mode... still. So I'm going back to read from The Order Of The Phoenix, through to another read of The Deathly Hallows (I've already read the first four numerous times)

Complicating this obsession is that over on Ravelry, if you've been fortunate enough to get your invite, you'll find mucho Harry Potter knitwear. I'm just amazed at what knitters will come up with when it comes to creating Harry Potterish knitwear. We all have a bit of Molly Weasley in us I suppose (minus the enchanted knitting needles!)

And apparently I'm really missing out by not having seen the movie yet. Every single knitter I know has asked me if I have and followed it up with "GASP! You must! The knitting is amazing!"

So anyway, what inspired this post, despite being Slytherin related, is this amazing scarf. Go see it then come back and tell me it isn't one of the coolest pieces of Harry Potter inspired knitting you've ever seen. I dove in the stash last night to retrieve some green and black yarn and have already cast on.


HP7 Release

July 21st, 2007

What chaos!

I won't rant about the horribly behaved older teens, knocking over book displays, shelves and small children, or how they shoved into lines where kids were waiting to be sorted, or make crafty wands. No.. I'll just try to let that all go.
Or how there was no "countdown" and if you were in the back of the store you had absolutely no idea it was midnight unless you heard the quiet cheer from the front.

It was by far the worst HP release I've been to. I'm actually quite disappointed, and wish I chose to go somewhere else instead of sticking to my tradition of going to B&N.

Anyway..

The whole time we were in line she kept saying "Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin, Not Slytherin"

Oh well!

Despite the crowds, and not getting back in the van to head home until 1:16AM. I have my book.

I read until 4AM, got some sleep, and I'm now heading out to the porch to read some more. Don't worry Llam.. I won't spoil anything for you ;)

Are you excited? I am!

July 20th, 2007

"Tonight! Tonight! It's coming Tonight! Tonight! Tonight! Tonight! Hot Damn, Tonight!" - Mr. Parker in A Christmas Story.

I'm too excited for words. Truly. I had hoped to get lots more knitting done this week so I could read all weekend, guilt free.. It didn't happen. I had also wanted to re-read The Half Blood Prince as a refresher.. I didn't. But make no mistake... Cassidy, Alex and I will be at Barnes & Noble tonight at midnight, and a fresh pot of coffee will be brewed as soon as I get back home. Its a tradition.