Wordless Wednesday: storytime

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A to Z of me

This one has been going around for a few weeks now and I kept thinking I'd do it and haven't. Finally this morning* I read Trish's and thought I'd just do it right now, before I got distracted again. The picture is of me, my grandfather, my mother, my younger brother (on the left) and my baby cousin.  I have the dress I'm wearing in the picture in a box waiting for the Princess!

Age: 36

Bed Size: King, or as I like to call it, "Not Nearly Big Enough"

Chore that you hate: Bagging up the Trash. It seems so simple, but man I hate it.

Dogs: Scout

Essential start to your day: Coffee and email.

Favorite colors: I like them all. I'm sorry. I know that's a cheater answer but I really can't pick.

Gold or Silver: Gold.

Height: 5’8”

Instruments you play: Piano, not very well. And Trumpet in high school, but that was more "play" than play.

Job Title: The Boss of All.

Kids: The Pirate (6.5), the Bug (3.5), and the Princess (14 months)

Live: Pierre, SD. Where our fanciest department store is J.C. Penney.

Mother-in-Law’s name: Mary. She died shortly after I met her, unfortunately. I think we would have liked each other.

Nicknames: I don't have any, I don't think. I always always wanted one. I was briefly called Lil, for a character I played in EverQuest, but that didn't stick.

Overnight hospital stays: In first grade for a knee problem, and then when I had the kids.

Pet Peeves:  Putting dirty clothes beside the hamper instead of in it. Across the room doesn't bother me nearly so much! Oh, also putting plates with food on them in the non-disposal side of the sink!


Quote from a movie: "I know kung fu."


Right or Left handed: Right

Siblings: Two brothers, 6 and 8 years younger than me. Regrettably, we are not close. I moved away to school when they were 8 and 10 and we just grew up differently.

Time you wake up: 6:30ish. I never sleep past 7, mainly because never have all my children done the same.

Underwear: Dear Santa, if you brought me some new undies I'd be thrilled. Love, Lisa. (Yes, I have some, they are just in need of replacement. I'd never have thought that buying myself underwear would be so far down the neccessity list!)

Vegetable you hate: Green Beans, except in casserole.

What makes you run late: I was never late until I had kids.

X-Rays you’ve had: Hand when I slammed it in a door, neck when I pulled a muscle. No actual broken bones though.

Yummy food that you make: I'm better at main dishes than I am at desserts, so let's go with my pulled pork.

Zoo animal: Giraffes.

*Actually, Tuesday morning, I scheduled it to post later. Love scheduling.

Random Friday: Black Friday

• Is everyone shopping but me?
• I have to work tonight so I'll have my fill of retail without spending a dime.
• Today's goal is to get the rest of the owls in the shop before tomorrow.
• Ya'll know about Small Business Saturday, right? This is a terrific chance to show your support of non-box store businesses. Small businesses often get overlooked in the ease of one-stop shopping, but there are tons of great things to be found  from independent businesses.
• I've started to notice that the Princess isn't a huge fan of drinking. She eats fine and she still nurses, but I think she's actually thirsty in the middle of the night, and isn't a fan of a sippy cup.  Any suggestions?
• We had a lovely Thanksgiving, but I had to work last night and missed the PIE!
• I didn't write a post about everyone I was thankful for, but I wanted to say that I'm thankful for YOU. Yes, you. Thanks. You make me happy.

What I Read This Week:

• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. I stayed up late last night to finish. There's something about a Dessen hero.
• Only His by Susan Mallery. I'm not enjoying this one as much as the others. I haven't decided if I'm burnt out on the series or if it's just inferior.
• Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. Ok, I haven't actually started it. I got it from the library Wednesday tho and I'm very excited to dive in. I loved Anna and the French Kiss.

Ok, off to take owl pictures before my day gets away from me!

Dear Princess, Ten Things I Love About You

1. The way you crinkle your nose when you smile.
2. The way you beg for your shoes every single time we walk past the basket or see them at a store or at a museum (as below). Oh my girl, we're gonna have so much in common.
   
3. The way you think you are a big kid and try to weasel your way into your brother's games and onto any dangerous surface.
   
4. The way you always know when someone has a sweet treat and demand your rightful share.
5. The way you are so very happy when you find your baby doll or your blankie.
6. The way you're standing up ready for us to lift you would of your crib, but, oh no! wait! First you need to scoop up as much stuff out of your crib as possible- blankie, (non-special) blankets, baby Annie, and all the suckies (pacifiers) you can reach.
7. That you love to blow kisses. And raspberries.
8. That you are adorably cute in whatever wacky outfit your mama put on you. You are SO much fun to dress in the morning.

9. The way you wiggle your little finger on my touchscreen phone, like you know what you're doing.
10. The way you make me feel complete. I didn't realize I was missing something, until there was you.  I love you baby girl, don't grow up too fast.

(Ten things about your brothers, coming soon.)

Happy Haulidays from Chronicle books! (again!)

Remember last year when everyone was giving away $500 of books from Chronicle Books? Well, they're doing it again. You get to pick your list of books and they will choose one person to win AND one commenter on that person's post AND a charity of the person's choice! (I'd choose my local library, I've been so impressed with them, considering how tiny they are.) NICE!

I just spend a crazy long time making my list, and it comes to $499.93. Here's what I'd choose:

Secrets of Simplicity
Fed Up with Lunch
Same Place, More Space
Creative, Inc.
Craft, Inc.
Little Bits Quilting Bee
Girl's World
Amy Butler's Style Stitches
Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Living
Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby
Whip Up Mini Quilts
Craft Inc Business Planner
Handmade Nation
How to Cook Like a Top Chef
Whoopie Pies
F in Exams
The Jedi Path
Cake Simple
The Sock Knitting Kit
CitiBLOCKS Stacking Blocks
The Worst Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Everest
Handy Dad
Holiday Crafting and Baking with Kids

Whew. What would you pick if you had $500 to spend?

Wordless Wednesday: Post Craft Show Fun List

Much better.



Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Nine year old Oskar Schell's father has died in the World Trade Center on September 11th. Oskar has a really hard time accepting his death and is desperate to understand his dad's last minutes. When he discovers a mysterious key in his father's closet he sets out on a quest to discover what it unlocks.

I've had a copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer on my shelves for years.  I got my copy from Paperback Swap shortly after I joined. I had read that it was by the husband of author Nicole Krauss, who wrote The History of Love , which I just adored. (Sadly for you, I read it pre-blogging, but you can see the lovely TRISH's picture of it up there in my header!) I had also heard that it had a similar writing style, something unique that made it not a straightforward plot, as with The History of Love. I was sure I'd love it. So my copy came and it sat there a couple years, and then Trish (same Trish) posted this review and I added it to my "Ok, now you GOTTA read it (mental) pile." And then some more time passed. And then we moved. And then we moved again. And then I started to read it and I just wasn't hooked. I read about half and frankly, Oskar annoyed me. His mother, who is very very hands off even when I felt she shouldn't be, bugged me. His grandparents have all this crazy, well, crazy. The book got buried under a pile of sewing while I read other things.

I decided I needed to finish it. I needed to see how it all ended and how it came together in such a way that left Trish so in love with the book. I took it with me one day to pick up the Pirate from school. I typically get to read about two pages while waiting in line (some days, this is all the reading I do.) Well. Something got my attention and I was hooked. I spent all my spare reading time on this one for the next few days, and finally when I had about 30 pages to go I just sat down and read to the end. And, I was a bit underwhelmed. In the end, it was more about Oskar than about his quest and I really wanted the quest to end differently, ya know?

Oskar is certainly very well defined. He has a distinct voice and personality. The quirkiness of the book- the pictures, the markings, the different fonts- fit in seamlessly and perfectly. The part about the bombing of Dresden is harrowing (That link is even more so. Gah.) The writing is terrific. But for me, I think I've decided I prefer plot to introspection. (Sorry, Trish.)

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
Houghton Mifflin Company
2005
326 pages



I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Random Friday: Clifford the Big Red Dog came to story time!

• Free Etsy Banners! I'm thinking maybe I should decorate the shop this year.
• I've decided that a beach towel is one of the best souvenirs of  a place. We use our beach towels year round and it never fails to make me smile when I use the one from our trip to Kauai.
• Have ya'll seen Gone Reading? They have some cute reading (duh) shirts and bags and mugs. 100% of their profit goes to building libraries in developing countries.
• The kids got flu shots on Wednesday. That night the Princess had a high fever and we spent some quality time together from about 1am to about 4:30am.  Yesterday the Pirate came home from school and got in bed and slept until 6:30. They say there are no side effects, but what amazing coincidences!
• Speaking of quality middle of the night time, I'm tired. I'd link you to the Barenaked Ladies song Who Needs Sleep, but my computer doesn't approve of videos these days. You can hear a bit at Amazon-Who Needs Sleep? . Maybe I should make that my ring tone.
• Mike is in the middle of inventory prep. Aside from him running in the door as I run out it to work, I don't know the last time I saw him.  He's gone when I get up every morning. I told him that as soon as it's over I am TAKING A NAP.
• The new job is going well, I think. They let me out on my own on Saturday.
• I listed several new crayon wallets in the shop yesterday. I can't remember if I showed those to you, but they are little folding wallets that hold a dozen crayons and a small notebook. Super cute and affordably priced. They'd fit right into a stocking.
• I started scheduling blog posts at the beginning of this week. What a difference this makes! I don't sit here thinking, "I really should blog..."

What I Read this Week:

• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. I've had it on the shelf for years. The best part about a Sarah Dessen book is that you know what you're getting when you open it up.
• Only His by Susan Mallery. This is the last one in the series of six. I still need to read book four, but the person who has it from the library hasn't returned it yet. It's due September 16th. I'm not holding my breath. I'm going to do a post about Susan Mallery once I have them all read. Might have to ILL that one to get it done.
• Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowly. This one is an ARC from Net Galley. This is my first Net Galley book. I'm not sure if I'll go back for more, it's really tiny to read it on my phone. I've barely started reading this one, but I think I'm going to enjoy it.

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Craft Show Results

So. The nicest thing I can say about the craft show is that I got to spend two days hanging out with a friend and talking to other adults. I also got a line on a group of stay at home moms who get together weekly to chat and craft (Suh-WEET!) and made one more flower for the hex quilt. What I did NOT do, is make any money. Saturday was very very disheartening. I cried.  But as Mike points out, I couldn't have know without trying it. Check an item off the bucket list. One booth out of every eight was a handmade craft. The other seven were vendors (Park Lane, Tupperware, Tastefully Simple, etc.) 

I'm going to spend this week posting the leftovers to the Etsy shop and take a little break from sewing for sale. I'm going to make myself a new winter bag, followed by a few things for the kids. Then I'll jump back into the Etsy sewing with both feet.

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Shutterfly Giveaway Winners

A few days late, but whatever! The winner of the Shutterfly cards for best answer is madfoot who said:

My favorite gift ever ... is on my feet right now. From my first Mother's Day -- a pair of plush cowboy boot slippers, in black, with roses and vines appliqued on the side. They are the most perfect footwear the world has ever seen. And you... you are jealous.

Because I AM jealous! I have like 5 pairs of slippers. Two of them have MAJOR holes. Two of them have hard yucky soles that aren't comfy for tucking your feet under you on the couch. The remaining pair are threatening to come apart.  I love slippers.

And then I was too lazy to use Random.org, so I asked the Pirate to pick two numbers between 1 and 13 and he choose #10 (Janssen) and #2 (Wendy). Congrats to the winners, I'm off to email you with more information!

Random Friday, Tomorrow tomorrow!

• The craft show is tomorrow. I'm crazy. My to do list is a million miles long. I'm obsessing over how to attach prices and how to display things. Sewing is done.
• I keep thinking of a million things I wish I'd made for the show. Like headbands and bibs and pinafores and zipper pouches and iPhone/iPad holders. I'm already wanting a second chance.
• I'm gonna be tweeting from the craft show. You can follow me @lharsma if you want to send encouragement.
• I'm supposed to pick some winners in my Shutterfly giveaway, but I don't have time. If you haven't entered yet go ahead and do so, I won't notice that you're late.
• My wonderful sister-in-law Anna is coming to spend the day with us today, I'm so excited.
• The Princess is not sleeping any better. However, her two bottom molars have just broken the skin, and I can feel the top two, so with any luck it won't be long and she'll know how to sleep again.
• I had my orientation at the new job. It's a very basic, retail, holiday job. I'm kinda excited to talk to adult people on a regular basis.
• I get very few things to review as a blogger. I'd love to figure out how to get on a "test this free iPad" list. I did, however, recently get the chance to try out a Bounce Free 3 Month Dryer Bar . I should mention that we don't often use fabric softener. Mike would prefer we did, but Mike doesn't do the laundry.  I got the Bounce bar in the mail and put it in, and I have to say, if I were a die hard softener lover, I'd love this. I can't smell it and it's just so easy to not think about. I am tempted to replace it when it runs out.

What I read this week:

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Finally finished! I'm not sure I'm madly in love with it, but I'm still kinda processing it. I'll let you know. Shawna, I think you'd like this!
• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen. I've read like 4 pages.
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. This one is just too chunky to carry around, but it did finally start to pick up for me.

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Shutterfly Holiday Card Giveaway reminder!

Just flying by to remind you that today is the last day to enter the giveaway for the free Shutterfly cards. If you haven't entered, go here to do so!  I'm giving away three sets, your chances are REALLY good right now.

Wordless Wednesday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I give up, day 7.

Ok, NaBloPoMo, you win. I can't do this every day posting thing. I just have too many balls in the air right now, to sit here and write a post every day. Need proof? Here's part of my to do list between now and Saturday:

• Finish sewing product for the craft show. (This is a deceptively short sentence.)
• Design and print some signage for my craft show table.
• Design an order form in case anyone wants to buy banners.
• Price my craft show items (like, actually put prices ON items. I was told I shouldn't rely on signage.)
• Build a stand for the banners.
• Buy a couple table cloths.
• Go get cash for making change.
• Make an apron in which to hold my change.
• Inventory items so I know how well I actually did.
• Start new job on Wednesday night.
• Email lead on freelance job.
• Track down phone number for wholesale opportunity.
• Laundry.
• Kids.
• Food.
• Etc.

See? No time to blog. Clearly, I will be failing the challenge here on day 7.

Ask me anything, but don't call me Shirley.

Yeah, doesn't make sense to me either.

For reasons unknown to me, I decided to do NaNoBloMo in the same month as my first craft show. The same month I start a new part time job, just in time to gear up for the holiday. Smart, so smart. And, as I should have expected, my mind is a complete blank. So, I thought I'd steal an idea from the lovely Heidikins and ask you to ask me anything. I'll answer your questions (cause you need to ask more than one) in a future post. I'm gonna need help if I'm going to post every day.  

Heidi was nice enough to bribe you with a baby sloth. I don't have a baby sloth.  I do have dragon in a field on some random day that is not Halloween, will that work?

Mystery Solved!

One of the quick and easy things that I like to make for the Princess to eat is frozen veggies, quickly thawed in hot water. She's a big fan of almost any veggie, but I often go for mixed veggies for variety (corn, peas, carrots, green beans.) She regularly eats the green beans first (weirdo) and then works on the rest until she is full. Then she sweeps it all on the floor where Scout finishes it off. (This is why you have a dog, right?)

The last couple meals I've noticed that she's done really well at eating everything. The poor dog patiently waits, and gets very little. Well.  The Princess doesn't have a regular high chair. She has a booster seat with a little tray, that attaches through a hole in the arm of the booster. Except we don't use the tray, we just push her up to the table, leaving a little hole in the arm of the chair.

I just, as I was sitting here, realized where the food is going. I am afraid to look.

Random Friday: 8 days

• Yesterday I put candy corn in the popcorn I gave the kids for snack. I'm thinking I should have put it in a separate bowl. 
• I have a job interview today for a part time seasonal job. It is not my ideal job. But there it is. I am really bummed about it, to tell you the truth. It would be nights, so I'll still be home with the kids.
• I'm still sewing, but it's not picking up at all. The show is in 8 days and I'm not ready. I'm pretty discouraged about that too.
• My BFF bought me a cute little necklace. I'm trying to look at it and think of how an acorn grows into something big, and so will my success. Or something fairly cheesey and motivational. I need motivational.
• Sorry for the brief post today, I need to go try on every pair of pants in my closet now. Wish me luck!

What I Read This Week:

• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (not done)
• Sweet Talk by Susan Mallery (ditto)
• That loud and close one (ditto)

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Ideas for your leftover Halloween Candy? We EAT ours.

I'm curious, what do you do with leftover Halloween candy? I fall on the "let them have candy" side of the Halloween scale. We don't do a Candy Fairy, we don't pack it up for the firestation or dad's work, we don't trade it for toys or take it to the dentist. On Halloween night they are allowed to eat as much candy as they want.  Yes, you read that right.

The morning after Halloween I pack up most of the loot and stash it out of reach*. I leave a small amount in sight, and they are allowed to have a few pieces after school and after dinner. The Pirate takes a piece in his lunch box for as long as it lasts. I dole out what's left in this manner until we're down to tootsie rolls and then I put all the tootsie rolls on the table and let them have at it. This dynamic has changed a little with the addition of Bo Peep, who can hear the rustle of a candy wrapper from behind closed doors. I'm more aware of how much candy they get when I have someone else's child eating it too. Plus, the Princess, at 14 months, knows exactly what a candy wrapper is and will race her brothers to beg for a piece. (Wow, it sounds like we have a lot of candy around here! We don't really**.)

What do you do with your child's candy? Does it last forever? Did you have a ton to start with? Do you pick out all the Reese's cups and Mary Janes and let them have the rest? We didn't have a ton this year, maybe one large bowl that included what we didn't hand out***. 95% of ours were chocolate as well, very few Skittles, no Nerds, no Pixie Sticks, and only a handful of dum dums. It seemed as though our entire neighborhood bought the same mixed bag of Reese's Cups, Whoppers, plain Hershey's, and Kit Kats.

*Conveniently withIN the reach of Mike and I.
** At least not for the kids.
***And an entire bag of fun size Snickers we didn't hand out, and that are stashed in the freezer. Yum.


I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Wordless Wednesday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

NaBloPoMo. Yes? No? Are you crazy woman?

Clearly I need my head examined. I'm doing good to blog three times a week and I'm hoping to blog daily for the entire month of November? Have I love my mind? (Oh please, lost it years ago.) Did I eat too much candy last night and am still on a sugar high? Yeah. I'm in.

For those not in the know (hi, mom!) NaBloPoMo is the short and awkward way to say National Blog Posting Month. It means you're gonna blog every day. Every. Day. I did it once before and if memory serves I actually completed the entire month. (And, since my memory is awfully patchy these days, I'm not actually gonna go check and see. Leave my to my delusions, please.)(Ok, I lie. I checked. I did it!)

It's not like I don't have anything else going on this month. I have my kids, Bo Peep, the little matter of a craft show (IN ELEVEN DAYS, OMG!), a major holiday, a job interview, a baby who does not sleep and enjoys little giggle parties from 2:30-5am. Or sometimes midnight-3am. It's such a good thing she's cute. I need to figure out how to get my pirate ring (high school class ring) off my finger from last night. (Turns out, my fingers are bigger than they were 18 years and 3 kids ago.) I'm probably gonna schedule a few of the posts. And a few will likely be Wordless Wednesdays. I really want to get my work at home posts going in a more organized fashion. I'd like to review a handful of books that I've read this year, if I can remember them anymore. I'm considering a real tutorial (unlike my friendship bracelet tutorial.)  I need to learn how to use fewer paranthesis. I should even look that up and make sure it's the right word. My point, of course, is that I've very busy and yet I'm still gonna do this thing.  It'll be fun!

And now I'm off to admire the pretty sparkly stone in this here pirate ring. Did you know my school mascot was the Dragons? Did you know that it was almost a fish? Yeah, close one. Students that came after us, you can thank the class of 1993 for that.

PS. Dear ASMS students, you guys don't know how nice you have it. This is a far far cry from what that room looked like 20 years ago.

PPS. omfg. twenty years ago. *sob*