Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
New Pictures
Labels:
pictures
Despite the fact that it is a kind of arduous process to manually crop, size, place and caption pictures in my current photo album setup, I am still doing it until I work up the time and commitment to look for another option. And because of that arduous process, I'm about five months behind in posting pictures. Here are the links to see pictures from August 2011 -- page one and page two. Soon there will be a third page of pictures from our trips to Six Flags America in August.
A little taste of what is there:
Enjoy!!
A little taste of what is there:
Enjoy!!
Reading in 2012
I surpassed my 2011 book-reading goal -- my goal was 18 books and I read 34. I usually have a huge surge in the summer and early fall, and then tail off through the last two months. That was how it was this year. I finished reading the 32nd book in early October. Anyway, you can see the list here if you are interested. By and large it was a good bunch of books.
This year's goal is 20 books. I have about that many waiting on the shelf to be read. I'm starting off this year with 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winner The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I'm about a quarter of the way through, and let me say that it is definitely a crushing novel for a wanna-be novelist to read. The story is awesome so far, and yet I have to keep stopping and reading back over paragraphs just for sheer enjoyment of the way the sentences are crafted.
What are you reading this year, or what did you love last year? I would love to hear your recommendations.
This year's goal is 20 books. I have about that many waiting on the shelf to be read. I'm starting off this year with 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winner The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I'm about a quarter of the way through, and let me say that it is definitely a crushing novel for a wanna-be novelist to read. The story is awesome so far, and yet I have to keep stopping and reading back over paragraphs just for sheer enjoyment of the way the sentences are crafted.
What are you reading this year, or what did you love last year? I would love to hear your recommendations.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Close of the Year
Some randomnity...
A few days before her birthday, I told Holly about the night she was born. When I got to the part about giving her her name, she frowned and said, "But I didn't want my name to be Holly! I wanted it to be Rapunzel."
I gave Thea the Hunger Games trilogy for Christmas. She read the first book in 24 hours. Then she read the second book in the next 24 hours. I'm so happy to have her reading and being excited about a book, but it seems like kind of a waste if she's going to "use up" this Christmas present in three days.
Tonight I had to deal with a puking incident and a disgustingly clogged sink (not related) at the same time. Kind of an overload of Ick.
My great-grandmother taught me to crochet when I was a kid. I haven't done it in years, but in just the past couple of weeks I've picked it back up again. It is so satisfying to sit with the needle and yarn and a mug of coffee and some music playing. It feels very grounding and at the same time brings back fond memories. So far I've made a bunch of coasters/potholders, and one head wrap with a flower on it that is not very attractive. The coasters are kind of rough but I'm still enjoying using things I made. And I think with the right yarn, the head wrap could be really pretty.
Today there was only one radio station left, that I could find, still playing all Christmas music. (101.9 FM) As much as I wanted to avoid that grating music all of December... today I found myself listening to that station, and actually singing along.
I'm glad that Christmas is over, and look forward to a brand new year, but boy do I dislike the winter. I don't like January or February and thinking of all those gray days stretching ahead of me makes me want to hunker down in bed (in my new flannel sheets -- Christmas presents!)
Pez candy: Nasty. Did I actually like that stuff, as a kid, or was it just fun playing with the dispensers?
A few days before her birthday, I told Holly about the night she was born. When I got to the part about giving her her name, she frowned and said, "But I didn't want my name to be Holly! I wanted it to be Rapunzel."
I gave Thea the Hunger Games trilogy for Christmas. She read the first book in 24 hours. Then she read the second book in the next 24 hours. I'm so happy to have her reading and being excited about a book, but it seems like kind of a waste if she's going to "use up" this Christmas present in three days.
Tonight I had to deal with a puking incident and a disgustingly clogged sink (not related) at the same time. Kind of an overload of Ick.
My great-grandmother taught me to crochet when I was a kid. I haven't done it in years, but in just the past couple of weeks I've picked it back up again. It is so satisfying to sit with the needle and yarn and a mug of coffee and some music playing. It feels very grounding and at the same time brings back fond memories. So far I've made a bunch of coasters/potholders, and one head wrap with a flower on it that is not very attractive. The coasters are kind of rough but I'm still enjoying using things I made. And I think with the right yarn, the head wrap could be really pretty.
Today there was only one radio station left, that I could find, still playing all Christmas music. (101.9 FM) As much as I wanted to avoid that grating music all of December... today I found myself listening to that station, and actually singing along.
I'm glad that Christmas is over, and look forward to a brand new year, but boy do I dislike the winter. I don't like January or February and thinking of all those gray days stretching ahead of me makes me want to hunker down in bed (in my new flannel sheets -- Christmas presents!)
Pez candy: Nasty. Did I actually like that stuff, as a kid, or was it just fun playing with the dispensers?
Monday, November 7, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Party aftermath
Labels:
food,
halloween,
pictures,
woohoodammit
Before I forget, here is what went wrong, and what went right, for the girls' party (a long woohoo-dammit, of sorts :) ). Pictures at the bottom of the page.
WRONG: Had to move the party completely indoors thanks to frigid temperatures, drizzle and mud. Most of my games and activities were subsequently cut from the agenda.
RIGHT: Let the kids turn on the Wii and play "Just Dance." That game never fails to entertain. Even boys and parents were dancing.
RIGHT: Ghost cookies -- these were knockoff Nutter Butters dipped in melted white candy chips, with black sprinkles for eyes -- and witch hat cookies -- knockoff Keebler Fudge Stripes, turned upside down, with Hershey Kisses secured to them with a line of orange icing. Kids loved them.
RIGHT: Frozen party-size macaroni and cheese. I only got one of these, on a whim, and when it came down from the oven it disappeared in record time.
WRONG: The mummy dogs -- hot dogs wrapped in strips of refrigerated crescent roll dough -- didn't look like mummies at all.
WRONG: Also baking the first batch of mummy dogs on top of waxed paper was a bad idea since the paper melted and stuck to the dogs. (This was an accident, not something I did on purpose.)
RIGHT: Despite the mummy dogs' disappointing appearance, they were gobbled up -- waxed paper and all.
WRONG: Eyeball sandwiches -- two meatballs on a dinner roll, with sliced olives attached to look like the pupils of the eyeballs -- were a pain to assemble, and didn't really get eaten.
WRONG: "Pin the heart on the skeleton" game wasn't really fair since I attached to the wall a poseable cardboard skeleton and thus the blindfolded kids just had to quickly feel him up to locate where his heart should go. Only the two youngest kids missed by placing their hearts on the elbow and in the pelvis.
WRONG and RIGHT: Bobbing for donuts -- donuts tied with twine to the bottom of the ceiling light fixture -- was messy and wasteful. I ran this in three heats of four each, and the kids had to hold their hands behind their backs and try to be the first to finish eating their donuts without them falling onto the floor. The powdered donuts made a huge mess on faces and the carpet, and most kids' donuts fell onto the floor only half eaten. However, not surprisingly, this game was a huge hit.
RIGHT: Black punch in a plastic cauldron I got at Walmart hours before the party. The punch was two packages of Koolaid (two different colors that would be dark and muddy when mixed together) with the appropriate amount of sugar and water, plus two liters of ginger ale. Tasty.
WRONG: The ice hands floating in the punch did not work well. I froze water in rinsed plastic gloves, and it should have been great, but the fingers kept falling off (one of my floating hands was doing the sign of the devil) and the plastic was difficult to remove. I found a couple small pieces of plastic floating in the punch. I think using a different kind of glove would have worked better.
RIGHT: The three fog machines excited the kids and would have been very cool if we could have kept them running on their intermittent timers, but...
WRONG: The fog set off my smoke alarm twice, which is wired into the alarm system at the house and so the potential for the fire department showing up was high. So we had to set the fog machines on manual and an adult had to go flick them on from time to time.
WRONG and RIGHT: I forgot to set out the Goldfish crackers and the cheese cubes and crackers that I had gotten. However we had so freaking much food left over, it was just as well.
RIGHT and WRONG: We made these adorable Tootsie Pop spiders to be party favors. Then I forgot them in a box in my room until after all the kids had gone home.
WRONG: Had to move the party completely indoors thanks to frigid temperatures, drizzle and mud. Most of my games and activities were subsequently cut from the agenda.
RIGHT: Let the kids turn on the Wii and play "Just Dance." That game never fails to entertain. Even boys and parents were dancing.
RIGHT: Ghost cookies -- these were knockoff Nutter Butters dipped in melted white candy chips, with black sprinkles for eyes -- and witch hat cookies -- knockoff Keebler Fudge Stripes, turned upside down, with Hershey Kisses secured to them with a line of orange icing. Kids loved them.
RIGHT: Frozen party-size macaroni and cheese. I only got one of these, on a whim, and when it came down from the oven it disappeared in record time.
WRONG: The mummy dogs -- hot dogs wrapped in strips of refrigerated crescent roll dough -- didn't look like mummies at all.
WRONG: Also baking the first batch of mummy dogs on top of waxed paper was a bad idea since the paper melted and stuck to the dogs. (This was an accident, not something I did on purpose.)
RIGHT: Despite the mummy dogs' disappointing appearance, they were gobbled up -- waxed paper and all.
WRONG: Eyeball sandwiches -- two meatballs on a dinner roll, with sliced olives attached to look like the pupils of the eyeballs -- were a pain to assemble, and didn't really get eaten.
WRONG: "Pin the heart on the skeleton" game wasn't really fair since I attached to the wall a poseable cardboard skeleton and thus the blindfolded kids just had to quickly feel him up to locate where his heart should go. Only the two youngest kids missed by placing their hearts on the elbow and in the pelvis.
WRONG and RIGHT: Bobbing for donuts -- donuts tied with twine to the bottom of the ceiling light fixture -- was messy and wasteful. I ran this in three heats of four each, and the kids had to hold their hands behind their backs and try to be the first to finish eating their donuts without them falling onto the floor. The powdered donuts made a huge mess on faces and the carpet, and most kids' donuts fell onto the floor only half eaten. However, not surprisingly, this game was a huge hit.
RIGHT: Black punch in a plastic cauldron I got at Walmart hours before the party. The punch was two packages of Koolaid (two different colors that would be dark and muddy when mixed together) with the appropriate amount of sugar and water, plus two liters of ginger ale. Tasty.
WRONG: The ice hands floating in the punch did not work well. I froze water in rinsed plastic gloves, and it should have been great, but the fingers kept falling off (one of my floating hands was doing the sign of the devil) and the plastic was difficult to remove. I found a couple small pieces of plastic floating in the punch. I think using a different kind of glove would have worked better.
RIGHT: The three fog machines excited the kids and would have been very cool if we could have kept them running on their intermittent timers, but...
WRONG: The fog set off my smoke alarm twice, which is wired into the alarm system at the house and so the potential for the fire department showing up was high. So we had to set the fog machines on manual and an adult had to go flick them on from time to time.
WRONG and RIGHT: I forgot to set out the Goldfish crackers and the cheese cubes and crackers that I had gotten. However we had so freaking much food left over, it was just as well.
RIGHT and WRONG: We made these adorable Tootsie Pop spiders to be party favors. Then I forgot them in a box in my room until after all the kids had gone home.
 |
| Tootsie Pop spiders |
 |
| Ghost cookies |
 |
| Witch hat cookies |
 |
| Cupcakes decorated by the birthday girls |
 |
| Me and my daughter's "BFF" |
 |
| The "haunted hallway". Fog came out of the skull's mouth. |
 |
| I explain the rules of bobbing for donuts. |
 |
| And they're off! |
 |
| Pretty fun to watch! |
 | |
| Thea opening presents |
 |
| The last lonely ghost cookie left on the plate. |
 |
| Partying! |
Friday, October 28, 2011
Party time, excellent
Labels:
fall,
halloween,
house,
kids,
woohoodammit
Woohoo, the temperatures have been in the 60s and the 70s all month, which was great because I was planning a bunch of outdoor activities for the girls' birthday/Halloween party tomorrow night. Well guess what? Tomorrow, temperatures are not even supposed to reach 50 degrees. There is a 100% chance of rain during the day. At night, temperatures will dip into the 30s, and there is a 70% chance of SNOW. Dammit!!!
I am not sure now what I am going to do with nearly 20 kids stuck in my house.
I have a "haunted hallway" getting set up with black lights and fog machines. I have glow-in-the-dark bugs to put all over, and I found this cool idea online and did it -- printed out antique-looking photos and touched them up with a yellow highlighter to look creepier under the black light. For future reference, the best photos were the ones that had a lot of white space on them to begin with, as that glows better and the yellow highlighter shows up extremely well. The darker photos make it harder to see my embellishments. The best photo of all was this one --
it printed out pretty creepy-looking on its own. I colored in the guy's eyes with the highlighter and he is impressive.
I have a bunch of food I have to make tomorrow, mostly ideas I collected on Pinterest -- Nutter Butter ghosts, decorated cupcakes and brownies, witch hat cookies, mummy hot dogs, eyeball (meatball) sandwiches, and a veggie tray with dip that is coming out of a sick-looking jack o'lantern's mouth. Hehehe. Oh and a black punch with a floating ice hand in it. Can't wait to see how that turns out!
I was going to play pin-the-heart-on-the-skeleton outside, as well as have a balloon stomp (balloons tied with a length of yarn to the kids' feet -- the object is to stomp on other people's balloons while protecting your own), a balloon-ghost popping relay race, and a treat hunt through the yard. Those ideas are all way up in the air now. I don't have a room large enough for 20 kids stomping on balloons, or a room long enough for a relay race. Maybe I can still pull off the skeleton. More likely the kids will just run wild through the house. Or worse, sit around bored!
I am not sure now what I am going to do with nearly 20 kids stuck in my house.
I have a "haunted hallway" getting set up with black lights and fog machines. I have glow-in-the-dark bugs to put all over, and I found this cool idea online and did it -- printed out antique-looking photos and touched them up with a yellow highlighter to look creepier under the black light. For future reference, the best photos were the ones that had a lot of white space on them to begin with, as that glows better and the yellow highlighter shows up extremely well. The darker photos make it harder to see my embellishments. The best photo of all was this one --
I have a bunch of food I have to make tomorrow, mostly ideas I collected on Pinterest -- Nutter Butter ghosts, decorated cupcakes and brownies, witch hat cookies, mummy hot dogs, eyeball (meatball) sandwiches, and a veggie tray with dip that is coming out of a sick-looking jack o'lantern's mouth. Hehehe. Oh and a black punch with a floating ice hand in it. Can't wait to see how that turns out!
I was going to play pin-the-heart-on-the-skeleton outside, as well as have a balloon stomp (balloons tied with a length of yarn to the kids' feet -- the object is to stomp on other people's balloons while protecting your own), a balloon-ghost popping relay race, and a treat hunt through the yard. Those ideas are all way up in the air now. I don't have a room large enough for 20 kids stomping on balloons, or a room long enough for a relay race. Maybe I can still pull off the skeleton. More likely the kids will just run wild through the house. Or worse, sit around bored!
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