Throwing Marshmallows

I finally get to cross one thing off my “big” to-do list (as opposed to my daily ongoing to-do list). I have finally finished my first Blurb photo book!

One of my Christmas presents to our parents was an IOU for a great photo book of the boys. I had planned on doing a fairly easy to pull together book from QOOP but then around Thanksgiving I discovered Blurb and realized that even though it would take more time to pull together, I just had to do it.

What I love about Blurb is the variety of layouts that you can choose for your book. In most of the other photo books that I had looked at, you pretty much just got to choose how many pictures on a page, maybe a few captions and that was it. Blurb’s layouts give you far more flexibility than that (and if you know photoshop, you can even design your own layouts). The layout options make it really stand above the crowd as far as photobooks. It became much more of a creative effort, as opposed to merely a compilation of photos.

The free software was very easy to use (although it is a resource hog). I am currently uploading my completed book and will order 1 sample copy and hopefully if all goes well, will be able to order the ones for our parents really soon. I can’t wait and am a bit nervous. It is one thing to see it on the screen, another thing to see it in print!

I had not planned on it taking quite this long, but between things like Christmas, birthdays, homeschooling, planning two seminars, getting a new laptop and other stuff, life happens I guess. I will say that I was good…I have been wanting to move on to another creative project I have in mind, but I made myself finish this before starting something new.

I will say that I really enjoyed this process…it was hard for me to consider it done…I kept finding more edits and adjustments to make. I am sure that next time I will do some things differently. But it is done and ordered, so now all I can do is wait and see how it turns out!

A friend just forwarded information about The Great Sunflower Project which looks like a lot of fun.

By watching and recording the bees at sunflowers in your garden, you can help us understand the challenges that bees are facing.

• It takes less than 30 minutes.
• It’s easy.
• Free Sunflower seeds for planting.
• No knowledge of bees required!

Enter your bee counts online or send us your paper form.

There is also lots of great information on bees and why they are collecting this data.

I had actually been thinking that I want to do a better job at growing things this summer…although I am going to start small. I think that we will do the sunflowers and try maybe some lettuce in pots on the deck down at the beach. I love the idea of having an actual garden, but never seem to get around to actually pulling it off. So I will be more realistic this year and maybe have some success!

I just got an email from my favorite place to buy audio books, Audible, and it looks like they are opening an separate site just for kids audio books, called…wait for it…Audible Kids.

It actually looks pretty fun…I can’t tell if the selection is any bigger than on the regular Audible site (where you can still get kids books). It does seem as if you have more ways to search for books…by categories, age, grade, series, popular characters and award winners.

And yes, you do use the same account for making purchases for both Audible and Audible Kids, so there is no new fee or anything new to join. If you have credits on Audible, they are available on Audible Kids as well.

I have only poked around a little bit, but it looks like lots of fun stuff. Although I can’t say that I could ever bring myself to buy an audio version of a good picture book (like Where the Wild Things Are)…even though it is not expensive (many are only $1) it still seems a bit of a waste for a 5 minute audio book! Not to mention not getting the wonderful artwork.

But there are tons of other books that I would definitely consider owning. Much of my audio book purchases are kid lit…for both the boys and myself.

I have been a member of Audible for over 2 years now and I have to say that I have gotten some awesome deals. They frequently run promotions and sales (in fact I have $10 waiting to be spent that I got for using 4 credits in March…I had a couple of items on my wishlist that I had been waiting to purchase, including John Adams by David McCullough which was on sale for only 1 credit (regularly $48.96/ 2 credits))

Someone on the Living Math email list forwarded a link to Shapirolab.net, a fun website focusing on optical illusions and patterns. Lots of information about why the illusions work and many have options where you can play around and change the illusion to test different effects.

This came at a perfect time as it ties in with a fun Brain Awareness program that Jason did a couple of weeks ago at the National Museum of Health and Medicine Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (at Walter Reed). One of the aspects of the brain that had been covered was optical illusions so this is perfect (I love when that happens!)

Enjoy!

Yes, I am still alive. Just lots of stuff going on in real life. Hope to get back to posting soon.

In the meantime, saw this comic in several places and had to laugh out loud. The truth hurts I guess…

Be sure to check the xkcd archives…lots of hilarious stuff there!

I have been reading Unshelved for over a year now and realized that I don’t think I have ever mentioned it here.

For book-lovers and wanna-be librarians (like me!) it is a must read. A comic set in a fictitious library. I have it set so that I receive a daily email or you can subscribe to the feed. The characters are fun and the strip takes on issues such as censorship and recently the issue of judging books based on controversial viewpoints of the author rather than on the book itself. Yes, I am a book geek.

To read more about webcomics, check out this Unshelved blog post which explains a bit about the ins and outs of comics:

But there’s a downside to our control-freak existance. And that is that webcomics aren’t as discoverable (or let’s say, differently discoverable). You probably discovered Unshelved because a friend or coworker recommended it, or you followed a link from a listserv or blog. But many others followed that link and weren’t compelled to return by what they saw. I am a little sad that there aren’t hundreds of thousands of people who read our strip in their paper day after day, slowly gaining a taste for our style of humor. Nor are there folks who start reading our strip because they picked up a paper at the barber and start reading it. It’s a lost opportunity. I’m not sure how much, but I do wish we had a way to reach a broad and highly diverse audience day after day.

Bottom line: all in all we like being on the web, and it’s been years since we seriously discussed the possibility of newspaper syndication. But we are almost completely dependent on our readers to expand our audience. Thanks to everyone who has told a friend or coworker, or blogged about us, or posted to a listserv, or skywritten “unshelved.com” above the Superbowl. Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Well, it isn’t skywriting, but I am doing my part. Go check them out.

Meg always seems to find fun memes and I was looking for a good “Valentine’s Day” post, so figured that I would jump in.

1. What is his name? Jeffrey Charles

2. How long have you been together? 21 years (married 16 years, dated about 5) yes, we met young (I was 18, he was 21).

3. How long did you date? As mentioned above, about 5 years. Started dating at the end of my freshman year in college (1987)

4. How old is he? Will be 43 in just about a week

5. Who eats more? He does.

6. Who said I love you first? I think that he did…actually he said that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me first. He also was ready to start a family first. But he has always had the patience to wait for me.

7. Who’s Taller? He is…but I am 5′2″ so that is not saying much (he is 6′0″).

8. Who can sing better? I can. But that is not really saying much either.

9. Who is smarter? We each have our areas of expertise. I would not marry someone who wasn’t smart! (He had the right answer when I asked him though…he said that I was…so that shows you that he is pretty danged smart!)

10. Who does the laundry? We both do.

11. Who pays the bills? We have both done it at different times. He does them now (mostly through auto-bill pay to simplify things) which is fine with me.

12. Who sleeps on the right side? From which perspective? Looking at it while you are lying down, I do. And yes, it matters.
13. Who mows the lawn? A great guy that we found through neighbors. I used to mow it before the boys and I started spending our summers in Ocean City. I know, we have a rough life.

14. Who cooks dinner? Too complicated to explain.

15. Who drives? Definitely Jeff. I hate driving and he hates being a passenger. Works great.

16. Who is more stubborn? Most definitely me.

17. Who kissed who first? He most definitely kissed me first…after doing a heck of a lot of flirting…the tease…

18. Who asked who out first? We met when we each pledged the band sorority and fraternity at Va Tech. We got together at a party and did not have a “date” until a little while later. What he mostly remembers from that date was how slow I eat.

19. Who proposed? Jeff - we had dinner at The Farmhouse (just about the only local “fancy” restaurant) and then he took me back to the Va Tech duckpond to ask me.

20. Who has more friends? I do. I am the extrovert in the family.

21. Who is more sensitive? I am.

22. Who has more siblings? Neither…we each have 1 brother.

23. Who wears the pants? Definitely NOT going there…

I recently found a picture taken at the Marching Virginian’s Band Formal sometime after we had gotten engaged. I need to figure out how to scan it so I can post it. It is scary how young we look (not to mention that great “big” 80s hair thing that I had going).

I saw this over at Meg’s at Get In, Hang On and thought that it looked like fun. Plus I needed something quick to post today before I head to bed (still trying to catch up on my sleep!)

When you walk in your front door, which room do you enter?
A small foyer with a brick wall on your right, the stairs going up on your left and the dining room straight in front of you. If you turn right before you hit the dining room you head towards the boys media room (for lack of a better word) and if you go left you head towards the kitchen and family room.

The original house was built in the 1940s and they added onto it a few years before we bought it. The brick in the foyer is actually the outside of the original house.  Adds a lot of character.

Do you have a dishwasher?
Yes.

Is your living room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors?
Actually we have a family room (living room was the “formal room” in my house growing up) and it is ceramic tile with an area rug. One of the things I love about this house is that the foyer, dining room, kitchen and family room is all tile (with radiant floor heat so our feet stay toasty).

Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer?
On the counter.

House, apartment, duplex or trailer?
House.

How many bedrooms is it?
Four. Three are upstairs, the master bedroom is downstairs. It is one of the few things that I dislike about the house.

Gas stove or electric?
Gas thank goodness. I hate electric.

Do you have a yard?
Yup. It was one of the big selling points of the house. We have 1.3 acres, over 16 mature trees and are still “inside the beltway”.

What size TV is in the living room?
36 inch widescreen HD TV. Hubby would like to get a bigger one but it would not fit in the entertainment center.

Are your plates in the same cupboard as your cups?
No.

Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter?
Yes, on a side counter. but we rarely drink coffee at home.
What room is your computer in?
Hmmm…which computer? I usually use my laptop while sitting on the family room couch or back on my bed. Hubby uses his laptop while sitting on the couch (and yes, we do sometimes email each other while we are both on the couch!) Kyle has a small laptop which travels with him and Jason refuses to give up the desktop in the media room. (It is a good thing that Jeff has his own IT company…makes it easier to get the computer hand-me-downs)

Are there pictures hanging in your living room?
Yes. One wall has photographs of houses that I have taken throughout the years. One has a really nice painting of townhouses that I got at a craft fair and the third wall is our family gallery with pictures of the boys at different ages. Most of our artwork is photography…either mine or ones that I pick up at craft shows.

Are there any themes found in your home?
Sunflowers in the powder room. Fruit in the dining room. Houses in the family room.

What kind of laundry detergent do you use?
Ecover Laundry Wash

Do you use dryer sheets?
No. We had dryer balls for a couple of weeks but they split open.

Do you have any curtains in your home?
Valences in the kitchen, dining room and media room. Curtains in the family room. Curtains and roman shades in the master bedroom, blinds in the master bath. Valence in Kyle’s room (who does not like the dark), roller shades in Jason’s room (who needs darkness to fall asleep), blinds and valence in guest/craft room. I personally do not like closed blinds/curtains if I can help it.

What color is your fridge?
White.

Is your house clean?
Clean yes (we have a green cleaning service every two weeks) but our biggest problem is with clutter. We have way too much stuff.

What room is the most neglected?
The basement or the garage.

Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty?
Dirty.

How long have you lived in your home?
Will be 9 years in March.

Where did you live before?

• Owned a townhouse with Jeff in Annandale, VA (7 years).
• Rented a townhouse with Jeff in Annandale, VA (1 year).
• Rented an apartment with Jeff in Fair Lakes, VA (1 year).
• Rented an apartment in Blacksburg, VA (3rd-5th year).
• East Ambler Johnson Dorm in Blacksburg, VA (1st-2nd year).
• Home with my family in Severna Park, MD (9th grade to 12th).
• Home with my family in Rome, NY (birth to 9th grade)

Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet?
Most definitely NOT!

Do you have a scale anywhere in your house?
Two in the master bath (a normal basic one for me and a complicated one that I don’t know how to use for Jeff).

How many mirrors are in your house?
7

Look up. What do you see?
Upstairs railing, ceiling fan, vaulted ceiling.

Do you have a garage?
Yes, a two car garage. But we can not currently fit any cars in it.

Anyone else want to play?

Just read over on Salon’s Machinist blog about how Amazon has opened AmazonMP3 similar to iTunes where you can download songs and albums. One nice difference is that most of their songs are offered cheaper (.89 instead of .99) but the biggest difference is that the downloaded songs will play on any device, both iPods and non-iPods. It seems that previously, for the most part, download places were divided into iPod only downloadable (like iTunes) and those that could not be downloaded onto iPods. Which meant that if you had an iPod, you could not use certain sites (this has been a problem I have had at times finding places other than iTunes and Audible.com where I can download audio books). So I was really glad to hear that AmazonMP3 songs will work on my iPod.

I have always had a philosophical problem with the monopoly that Apple has when it comes to the iPod and downloads (not enough for me to not use it though…I really love my iPod!) so this seems like a good thing. Of course the selection is not as good as iTunes so far, however Amazon is a big name in and of itself so I think that it has a good shot at having just as good a selection. Competition will be good, I think.

Check it out!

My friend Rebecca’s husband has developed a neat new blog widget called NearCircle. It is a way to create a community of related blogs. Kind of like a webring but looks much more interesting and interactive…you can see posts in the sidebars and also go to the Circle home page and check out posts for all the blogs in the circle…kind of like an interactive focused blog reader. I usually am not into the social networking kind of sites, but this seems a bit different and I like that it is blog based. And it seems a bit more fun than just a static webring listing of blogs.

It is brand new, so there are not too many members yet, but check it out. I set up a Virginia Homeschooling circle so if you are a Virginia homeschool blogger, please join! There is also a Waldorf circle and an Unschooling circle so far. I am racking my brain to see what other circles I should set up…

Come join the fun!

Ok, call me a geek, but this list is hilarious. Gotta love the world in which we live…

Hat tip to the LibraryThing blog.

The Discovery Channel is having their semi-annual DVD sale. Hundreds of educational DVDs on sale for up to 75% off and lots of titles for $4.99. Also, if you use code EMAIL07 you get an additional $5 off of a $25 purchase.

Enjoy!

I admit it. I love the BBC version of Robin Hood. I had seen the previews about this new (to America…also check out the BBC website) series and thought that the boys would find it fun (what boy does not enjoy Robin Hood with sword fighting and archery?) but I am enjoying it just as much as they are (if not more!) Season 1 just ended (we were lucky to catch it at the beginning and tivo’d it…although looking at the episode list it looks like we missed one!) but it is being released on DVD on June 5th and is available through Netflix.

The show is incredibly fun and updated and remarkably well done. There is a lot of humor, great sword fighting and Robin (played by Jonas Armstrong) is extremely easy on the eyes (not to mention the accent!) I especially love the chemistry between Robin and Marian (who is a spirited, take care of herself kind of gal) and the relationship between all the characters (from Robin Hood’s Gang to the Sheriff and Sir Guy). The Sheriff is a real character…mean and diabolical, yet also extremely deadpan and funny…with a very dry, evil sense of humor.

Both boys really enjoy it…they especially love the fight scenes which are impressively choreographed and really enjoyable to watch. There is obviously some killing and violence so if your kids are sensitive, you should be aware of that.

The show has led to some good conversations about the time period and Robin Hood in general (Jason had listend to it on tape, but the story is new to Kyle). I found what looks to be an interesting DVD (also available at Netfilx) by the History Channel called History’s Mysteries: The True Story of Robin Hood. Can’t wait to check it out.

I highly recommend this show…it is one of those very enjoyable, watchable shows and it is fun to be able to watch something with the boys that I enjoy as much as they do!

~Stephanie

Ok, so this one really cracked me up for some reason and I just had to share…

~Stephanie

Can you name all 50 states in 10 minutes? Give it a try! Oh, and you have to be able to spell them correctly too!

I am a bit embarrassed to say that I missed Idaho, Minnesota (only because I could not spell it correctly!), Ohio, and get this…West Virginia. Yes, I forgot about our neighboring state that shares part of the name of the state that I live in. What can I say…I guess that I do not perform well under pressure…

HT: Charlottesville Words

~Stephanie

Especially ones that promise good luck or $100 if you don’t “break the link”? Try sending this back as a reply.

Thanks to my Mom for the link.

~Stephanie

I have spent way too much time poking around this website tonight: Pop vs Soda. Not sure why, but I am finding it fascinating. You can get the stats based on your state and even your county as well.

I am a soda girl (and for the record I prefer Pepsi, although I rarely drink soda any more). Yet most of my relatives from New Jersey including my grandmother all called it pop.

Reminds me of the test I took a little while ago to see What Kind of American English I spoke.

Can you tell I am procrastinating about actually getting some things done? One thing that is great about the internet…you can always find ways to distract yourself from what you are supposed to be doing!

~Stephanie

Check out the really neat, fun new tool, Literature Map. You type in the name of a favorite author and a “cloud” of related/similar authors appears. The closer the name is to the chosen author, the more likely you will enjoy them. You can then click on a new author and start following the trail.

Neat idea and after playing around a little bit, it definitely seems to be fairly accurate. Looks like I will have to poke around a bit and see who else I can find.

Thanks to Melissa on the UUHomeschooling email list for the link.

~Stephanie

Making Books for Children has a really cute Valentine Heart book as well as some other neat ideas for Valentine’s Day.  And fun links including the History of Candy Hearts.
Of course that means that I really should do something about Valentine’s day. Am I the only homeschool mom out there who is not really very crafty? It seems like these kind of holidays sneak up on me all the time…

~Stephanie

Yesterday, I joined in on Wisteria’s fun blue challenge and promised you an answer today.

Drumroll please…..

Yes, a chair. Exciting isn’t it.

And actually the chair has a bit of history…it was my mother’s as a child and mine as a child. it has seen many, many coats of paint. We actually have two of them along with a small child’s size square table. We have them in the kitchen and the boys often have breakfast or lunch there or do crafts or it collects lots of papers and other miscellaneous stuff that we have floating around. And the chairs work as excellent step stools as well.

Thanks for playing!

~Stephanie