Friday, August 31, 2012

Random Lists of Three…

This is all stuff that’s been floating in my head lately, so I thought I’d take my random thoughts and make random lists:

Goals: (If I had a bucket list these things might appear here, but I don’t, so Goals it is)

  • Learn Italian
  • Learn Mandarin Chinese
  • Become proficient at web design (look for a blog makeover soon)

Pet Peeves:

  • Poorly written/edited books
  • Kids not filling the Brita pitcher back up
  • People who whine that no one will help them when they’ve never actually asked for help

Guilty Pleasures:

  • “Say Yes to the Dress” on TLC
  • Trashy Free Kindle Books
  • My nightly dessert that I hide from the kids

That which makes me happy:

  • Homemade brownies with vanilla ice cream
  • Holding my Viv’s hand
  • Library Kindle Books

Thursday, August 30, 2012

My Book Likes/Dislikes:

Why? Because I’ve been on a reading kick lately and have a lot to say about the matter. This list is by no means complete, just a factor of what I’ve been encountering lately.

Likes:

  • Free Kindle Books from Print-Published Author’s Backlists
  • E-books from my library (they return themselves! On time!)
  • Well-designed covers. For me, this means simple. A solid background with a single graphic representing the title or something from the book or, hell, something completely generic.

Dislikes:

  • Getting halfway through a book (probably a free Kindle download or library check-out) and discovering I’m reading Christian fiction. Nothing against religion as a whole, but I prefer to keep it out of my romance novels, thank you very much.
  • That books set where I love to read about (1800s American/Canadian West, in particular, but in general 19th century America) are almost always Christian fiction these days. Or “erotica.” I don’t mind reading well-written historical erotica, except that it’s rarely well-written. And as noted above, I can do without religion in my light-hearted romance novel.
  • Poorly-designed covers. Take a poorly exposed photo and slap some words over it. Done. NOT. Also not a fan of the 80s romance novel with a long-haired dude holding some tiny lady. If you must use this type of image with a romance novel, hide it discreetly inside the front cover, which should be a sweet rose on a pink background. No one needs to know I’m reading smut.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Project Life Roundup: Weeks of August 12-19/20-26

August 12-19: Not much going on for our family. Hubby continued to host band camp in his first year as marching band director. I sewed a billion flags (not really, just eight and they were basically straight hems more than flags). I presided over my first arts council board meeting. Hubby and I volunteered at our local street festival, working for some of our various non-profits we help with.

August 20-26: Hubby returns to school officially. The kids and I have plans to visit out of town, but it never happens because one thing after another came up. Ted has started soccer practice. We had middle school orientation, where Ted got to figure out how to open a locker and reunite with some of his buddies. My MIL took the kids shopping for school shoes, which she did last year and has decided is now her “thing.” On Friday, Ted was invited to a water gun battle as an end of summer celebration and the girls got to meet their teachers.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Project Life Roundup: Week of August 5-11

Sunday: I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the project I’ve been working on for almost a year.

Tuesday: Scarlett and Viv get their first haircuts. Scarlett has actually had a tiny trim about two years ago (she’s 7 now), but scissors have never touched the Viv’s hair until this day.

web-6223

web-6224

Wednesday: Daisy had karate and I had a meeting to plan a gala event in February.

The rest of the week we did very little in anticipation of everything kicking back into gear for the school year. I’m not ready.

Project Life Roundup: Week of July 30-August 4

Monday: Guess who’s birthday it was!!! Yeah, me. It was kind of a bummer of a birthday. I renewed my driver’s license, applied for a new social security card and went on a job interview for a job I didn’t want. Happy birthday to me.

Tuesday: We celebrated the birthdays from the past week, Scarlett, Hubby and me, with my in-laws.

Wednesday-Friday: I spent most of my time running up to our county seat so I could help with a grand opening of a project I’ve been working on.

Saturday: We had a girls’ weekend for the middle generation in our family. My sister, sister-in-law and cousins went and hung out on the beach and went shopping.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Project Life Roundup: Week of July 22-29 (AKA Vacay!)

Lots to wrap up this week. This will probably  make two layouts worth, there’s so many pictures and things we collected. Speaking of collecting things, that’s my challenge to myself – to collect the ephemera of our lives to put in our album. So far I have the Delaware State Fair program, the scorecard from mini-golf and the parking permit for the beach we went to on Saturday.

Sunday: We just casually scoped out the area. We’ve been there plenty of times, but not for a week-long vacation.

Monday: Beach! We had our first day on the beach and loved it. The girls are water babies and Ted, well, he’s not. A few weeks ago we visited for the day and he was brave and went out pretty far into the ocean, but got wiped out. Now he won’t venture out past his knees. That night we went to the Delaware State Fair, which is actually closer to our house than where we were vacationing, but whatever. We love going there, so it’s worth it. We ate fair food (though nothing deep-fried), pet the farm animals and checked out the exhibits. My kids aren’t ride riders, well, Viv would, but no one else, so we skip all of that for the most part.

Tuesday: Back to the beach. We planned to have lunch from one of the boardwalk joints and have a long day beaching it, but Viv can’t hang. She melted down as soon as we ate lunch and we left. Lesson learned. Four-year-old can only hang on the beach for about three hours.

Wednesday: Hubby had to go to a meeting, so we met my cousin and the kids she nannies for the summer at a nearby beach. The kids loved playing together and we pushed Viv to well beyond her three hours. I think it was the most exhausting day of vacation for me.

Thursday was Hubby’s birthday, so he got to call the shots (that’s how we roll on birthdays around here whenever possible). We mini-golfed and hung out at the pool and had crab dip for dinner.

Friday: My sister and sister-in-law arrive for the big family celebration. Besides Scarlett and Hubby’s birthdays, mine was coming up on Monday. So we partied and watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics (we discussed drinking around the world in honor, but decided a few representative countries would suffice. I help up my end with a German Riesling).

Saturday: The whole family went to the beach. And I mean the whole family – my mom and dad, sister and brother and all associated kids and spouses. It was fun for the kids, but a little hard on the adults, I thought. It was very crowded and hot. Or possibly by that point, I was sick of the beach. (I know!)