How does Martha make it look so easy?

Today is another PED at so Shel is home with me. When we got up late this morning there were big, fluffy snowflakes falling and it kind of put us in a Christmasy mood so we decided that it would be the perfect day to make our gingerbread house.

Since this is our first try we bought a kit thinking it would be sooo easy. The directions said that it would take 20 minutes to put the walls up. Are they crazy? Maybe it takes Martha 20 minutes to put the walls up, and initially it did take me 20 minutes to put the walls up, but they didn't tell me about all the time it would take me to put them up again after they fell down while I was putting the roof on.

In the middle of it I became so frustrated and tired of Shel asking me what S-H-I-T spells, I made a lemon loaf.



I'm happy to report that the roof is now on and it is drying until the end of the afternoon. We may start decorating at that point. Pictures MAY be posted later.

Now I just have to figure out how to keep the damn cat from eating it.

Nov. 30 PS The husband (who is home with Shel for the second PED day), has just reported that the cat has been licking the gingerbread. This is not going to be easy. Decorating to come tomorrow.

Winter reading

My summer reading didn't go so well this year. I read a couple of books all summer, very disappointing. My fall reading didn't go so well either. So I'm holding out hope that winter will give me a few afternoons by the fire where I can finally enjoy a good book.

PS (pre-Shel) my favorite Christmas gift was to receive a book (or two) and to spend my 2 weeks holidays reading, the the occasional jaunt out to Starbucks and to the movies. Now it's more likely to be an afternoon of sledding on Murray Hill. Not that we have enough snow yet for sledding, just enough to be a real pain. The husband is an avid rock climber and Shel, who up to this point, has not displayed the least interest in rock climbing, has decided that he wants to give it a try. So maybe if the 2 of them go off rock climbing for a couple of afternoons during the holidays I may get some reading in.

I would like to say that I no longer need to quantify that it needs to be quality reading. I'm just interested in reading something that isn't too light (getting tired of the yummy mommy books), yet not so heavy that I can only get through a couple of pages a sitting.

So in anticipation that I will get some reading time here's either what I'm currently reading, have purchased, or want to read (within a 6 month period).

I am currently reading Exit Ghost by Philip Roth. Just started it, but so far it is excellent and absolutely meeting my requirements.



I am also reading these 2 photography books, which are excellent and I am learning a lot from.





I have purchased the following:



Ok, there is a bit of a trend here, so time to add some more real books to my list. I have also purchased these books and want to read them.



The Linnet Bird I never would have bought if left to my own devices, but the owners of our neighborhood toy store, that also carries an excellent selection of books, would not let me buy another book until I bought this one. They both raved over it. So, I bought it a couple of months> weeks ago and plan to read it over the holidays.



This list looks a little pathetic, so I really need to add another photography book. I'm thinking that "The Art of People Photography" will also be a good one.



And this is an actual book, but about a wonderful photographer that I recently discovered.



So if I can get through this list in the next 6 months I will be happy. BTW all book recommendations are welcome.

The cat ate my science project

You know the old homework excuse, "the dog ate my homework"? Well in this case it's true but instead the cat ate the science project.

Shel and I have been collecting plants for his science project, which is due tomorrow, since the weekend. I opened up his folder this morning to take a look at what is left to do and this is what is left of his science project. The damn cat had been poking around it for a couple of days, but I had no idea he was eating it. I had to run out this morning and cut some branches off my rosebush to substitute for what we lost. Do you think his teacher will believe this excuse?

We had our first taste of winter today (a view from our back deck). A dusting of snow is covering everything with the promise of more in the coming days. I'm not ready. I even received my first CHRISTMAS CARD in the mail yesterday. People are fast this year.

Portraits

Last night we went into the studio for our first attempt at portraiture. In my opinion it was less than successful as most of us had no idea what we were doing. But it was fun none-the-less. It was actually very cool learning how to put together the big studio lights and how to use barndoors on lights, the effects that different backgrounds can make, what is the Rembrant lighting effect, and butterfly lighting. Doesn't mean that I can do any of it, that was the less than successful part. But here are a couple that I kind of like. They are not cropped in any way (yet). I may post the final versions after. I did take more technically accurate pictures, but these, to me, captured more of who they are. Any comments are appreciated.

Faith in Human Nature

I basically believe that most people are good - most of the time. And it really doesn't take much effort to do the right thing, so when I get ripped off by someone who is taking advantage of me I get pissed off.

This has been a crazy week. Martin is in Boston for the week so I've been doing the drop off at school and the afternoon pick up, taking Shel to swimming and karate, doing the homework, you know all the usual stuff, but not having the car around to make it easier. We're doing fine, but just a lot busier than usual.

On Monday I picked Shel up from school and we took a cab to karate. I'm juggling bags and snacks and work that I'm going to be doing while he's in karate class. We arrive at our destination and the taxi fare is $7.55. I give the driver a $20 bill and said you can keep the change and give me back a toonie, and I also wanted a receipt. At the same time Shel is jumping out of the cab and we are almost hit by an SUV. So I'm looking at a million things all at once.

Once I get Shel safely to the sidewalk I look at what the taxi driver has given me. A toonie and a receipt. He kept $10. Did he think that I was going to give him a $10 tip on a $7.55 fare? Ok, I said keep the change, but I meant the "change". Come on. I phoned the taxi company (Vetran Taxi) and told them what happened, they tried to get in touch with the driver who didn't pick up. I called back later same story. They asked for my telehone numnber so they could get back to me, but I can kiss that 10er good bye.

It is only $10, not a big deal, but it is the principle. You can't tell me that this guy didn't take advantage of a mother who was obviously trying to juggle a million things at the same time and was distracted. It will be a cold day in hell before I use Vetran Taxi again.

Ah man.....

I hate getting up and finding out that I'm out of tea. On the weekends I need to start my day with a steaming cup of tea and maybe a piece of banana bread. But to open the tin and find that it's empty is a bit of a shocker. Now what am I going to do..... I've searched the cupboards, they're bare. That sounds vaguely familar. I can't drink tisane. Gross! I just want tea....oh ripping the cupboards open and looking frantically. Why don't I have an emergency stash. Oh yeah, I did that's what I finished. Damn.

Well, time for an early morning run to Starbucks. I just gave my son a piece of banana bread and he asked me if there were blueberries in it. Hmmm, maybe it's time I acted like a proper mommy and didn't give my child stale bread for breakfast. Yup, we're off to Starbucks or maybe The Oxford for breakfast.

I had a successful sale at my shop this week. I had free shipping and thankfully some people too advantage of it. I will have another sale in a week or two, a before Christmas sale, but not sure of the format. I've been asked to send a shop in Toronto some of my birthday invitation samples right away and some tees after Christmas. How cool is that?

Ok, I tried so hard to finish it, but it took me 2 months to read Mrs. Dalloway. I say this with a lot of embarrassment as I was a freakin' English Literature major at one time. Cherry Menlove over at Tales of Pixie Wood started this book reading club (sort of) and try as I might I had a difficult time getting through it. Not that I didn't like it, I actually enjoyed it, but it was one of these take 1 step forward and 2 steps back books. It just never seemed to end and it's so short.

I have bought some books lately that I really want to get into, but think that I will read some photography books for the next little while to improve my technique. We're starting portraits this week. Joel started the last class off by asking "what is a portrait?" Good question!

A thing of beauty

I fell in love with this photograph the first time I saw it. It just was magical to me. As are all the photographs by Irene Suchocki. Some prefer "pure" photography, but I love magical and Irene is the queen of magical. She has so many photographs that I am in love with I may go broke buying them all.

I finally received this one last night and it is even more beautiful "in person." Now I just have to figure out how to have it framed and where to put it.

Well, as a follow up to my last blog, Respir-Actin did not save us from getting sick. But it does not claim to be a cold remedy and I think that we will be on the road to recovery in no time.