Bye-bye books

So, the bookcases are in. Most of the books are out of their boxes. And we decided it's time to get rid of some books. Yeah, how to choose. I love my books. And I'm definitely still on a book diet. As I unpacked, I was surprised at how many books I hadn't read. And I'm not just talking about Alex's sports/radio/music biographies. I'm talking about my books.

Book diet is still in full force, but it was time to weed out the books.

So, I packed up a couple of boxes of kid lit - like Anne of Green Gables and Rupert Annuals and that kind of thing - for when Baby J is bit older and into "chapter books." I also made a pile of books that belong to other people...I have a huge stack from my parents' house and not quite so huge stack of books that belong to my aunt. I wonder if they'll even notice that the books were on vacation at my house!

Getting rid of books, though, that is the hard part. I think it will take some time to really weed the books out. I'd like to only keep books that I will reread or I haven't read, but I'm just not sure about some of them...

The books that are leaving and need a home are:
Where's Mom Now That I Need Her - (cookbook/general home care)
Middlemarch - George Eliot
At Swim, Two Boys - Jamie O'Neill
Insomnia - Stephen King
Jessica - Bryce Courtenay

Let me know if anything catches your eye. They're in our thrift shop box and are up for grabs until the box is full.

No way, you've got to be kidding me...

It looks like we might be having *another* election in the next few months...this is just getting crazy!

Or maybe we won't, maybe it's just all political bluffing.

Fingers crossed...

One month

One month until Christmas...I can't believe how quickly it has snuck up on us, again! Seems to be something I always think I'll have time to get ready for and then, well, I'm not ready...but maybe, just maybe this year I'll be ready to go!

Germany - Etang de la Gruere

Postcard from Germany from Astarte

Description: Etang de la Gruere, Jura/Schweiz

I think maybe this is of Switzerland or possibly France, but I'm not sure!

Brazil - Brasilia's Cathedral

Postcard from Brazil from brasilia

Description: Brasilia's Cathedral.

Watch out kitchen!

For his birthday, Alex received a cookbook and gift card to the grocery store from his brother and family. The idea was that Alex would cook for me and would start practicing before Baby J arrived (I also got a breakfast tray for breakfast in bed as a shower gift from them. The idea there was that Alex would make me breakfast in bed, but that didn't ever happen! We're working on that one).

Anyway, last night, Alex decided it was time to cook! And to prove it, here are the pictures!

the cook and the cookbook (gentlemen, start your ovens)

the recipe

ingredients

more ingredients

measuring

being italian?

concentrating hard!

grating the cheese

mixing the cheese

the supervisor

out of the oven

dinner for two (the supervisor has gone to bed!)

It was delicious and Alex now knows that he can follow a recipe and make yummy things! YAY!

New Kids on the Block!

Alex and I had a night out...

Some yummy mini donuts...

And a blast from the past!

Thanks Fifers and Jess for looking after Baby J! It was nice to visit the outside world!

Finland - Eastern Finland and Kontiolahti

Postcard from Finland from pientare

Description: Lake Höytiäinen. The pictures were taken and the card was made by pientare.

Belarus

Postcard from Belarus from agafa

Description: The description is in Cyrillic characters...I can't read it!

Australia - Heart Health

Postcard from Australia from laurent7

Description: Heart Health: A healthy lifestyle is the key to a healthy heart. First day cover.

The Shelves! The Shelves!

We got shelves to install in our bedroom *before* Baby J arrived.

bedroom before the shelves

After a couple of attempts to install them the resulted in no results, Uncle B came over this weekend to help us.

the shelves!

We all figured it would take a couple of hours at most...yeah right!

getting there...slowly but surely

Thank goodness for Uncle B! Two trips to the hardware store and six and half hours later, our shelves are in.

bedroom after

The boxes aren't unpacked yet, but we're that much closer! YAHOO!


Baby J spent most of the day supervising us from her bouncy chair!

USA - California - California

Postcard from California from chococat

Description: The sun sets over the ocean in California.

USA - Michigan - Lake of the Clouds

Postcard from Michigan from masucci

Description:Lake of the Clouds. Located in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in the Porcupine Mountains State Park, the Lake of the Clouds is one of may natural beauties easily accessible to visitors.

Finland - Mushroom

Postcard from Finland from Mutteri

Description: in Finnish, but seems to describe the mushroom, a Hydnum repandum

Germany - Trier

Postcard from Trier, Germany from Icelady

Description: "Trier, the oldest town of Germany (16 B.C.). Roman imperial town on the Mosel."

Ooh...mail in the mailbox!

The first postcards from my foray into the world of Postcrossing have started arriving! I am going to try to upload them as they arrive and they'll all be under the label postcrossing! I think I'll make them available by country too, but we'll see how it goes!

All Through the Night!

Baby J has started doing something miraculous and wonderful! Last night marked night 6 of 7 that she has slept 7 or more hours in a row. It's so great!

She also discovered her thumb this week and I think the two go hand in hand.

We discovered she needed her nails trimmed when she pulled her thumb out of her mouth and scratched the side of her nose in four places...one for each super sharp nail! And, oh, the screams!!!


The scratches are kind of hard to see, but they're there!

Brrr....

So, daylight savings time changed today...we fell back our hour and already I've noticed a change. It might be because it's really rainy. REALLY RAINY. and dark and dreary though. And that's making me cold.

According to the thermostat, it's 22C in here, which should be nice and pleasant, but I'm cold.

And the rain just started falling really really hard which made me even colder. And then the late afternoon winter sun just came through the window...and that made me cold too. I don't like dark or cold I've decided.

I didn't win the $40 million last night, so I guess I'll just have to suck it up and not move somewhere warm and sunny.


Sigh...

Okay, so it didn't happen

Yesterday I thought I'd get the back log cleared up...HA! I just cleared up here, now I'm going over there to try and get caught up, and if there's time, maybe Baby J's place will get updated to...please Baby J, sleep for another hour...

About the back log

So, having a baby has meant that many things take a back seat or just take longer to do. Blogging is one of those things. Lots of times I have time to blog, but I don't get quite finished before Baby J needs me. I can handle that. I did sign up for the job of Baby J's mom after all. But it means that things sometimes sit in the draft box for a while...

Some stuff because the pictures just needed to be added. Some stuff needed proofreading. Some stuff wasn't done. Some stuff was done, but the stuff before it wasn't uploaded, so it had to wait its turn...

Anyway, this morning, before we help the Mulvijohns move, I am hoping to get caught up...