My Birthday

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!  I had a pretty good day.  I spent the first part of the day being lazy and hanging out with Elora, then went over to a friend's house in the afternoon to start teaching her and her daughters how to crochet.  The oldest girl had already learned a bit, and taught some of it to her sister, so I my job was a lot easier than anticipated.  I had only to correct a bit of technique for one, and set the other to practicing her chain.  My friend had never learned, but she was a natural.  I left her to practice chaining as well.  We only spent an hour on crocheting, and then my friend and got to just sit and shoot the breeze for a while.   I'm going back this Monday to give them another lesson, and for another chance to chat.

Brandon was able to get back from Poland late that afternoon, and though he called me to let me know he was almost home, he still made it there before I did.  I was excited that he was home, but he didn't wish me a happy birthday when I talked to him on the phone, or when I got home, and I was disappointed that he'd forgotten.  But then I found a card with my name on it sitting at my computer, and I knew that he hadn't forgotten.  It was both terribly sweet, and laugh-out-loud funny.  I wanted to share it, and he told me I could.  This is the front of the card:

And this is the inside:
(click on it to view the full size image, so you can read it)

 I am going to keep that card forever.  Between the Kindle he got me for Christmas, the printer/scanner he got me for Valentine's day (still on its way), and the camera he got for my birthday (shipped out yesterday, yay!), he is on quite the roll.  He's going to have me spoiled, if he's not careful.  And then the card.  Holy cow, I love that man.  :)

Don't forget, if you haven't already entered for my surprise giveaway, you still have time!  You just need to leave me a comment on this post to enter.  You have until this Saturday, and I will announce the winner on Sunday.

Decisions, Decisions

I have been teetering on the fence for days now, trying to make up my mind about what camera to get.  Do I get the Canon Rebel XSi (a DSLR) or the Canon PowerShot S90 (a point & shoot)?  Do I want the phenomenal cosmic power of the bigger camera?  Or the convenience of the smaller one, even if it means sacrificing photo quality?  I've vacillated back and forth between the two so much that I've made myself dizzy.  And all the while I've deliberated, I've been missing awesome photo opportunities.

photos from amazon.com

Thanks to a helpful nudge from Corinnea, however, I've fallen off the fence and landed squarely on the side of the Rebel.  It's more expensive (bigger, better things usually are) and it's size might be a bit cumbersome, but I've decided it's worth it to get the more powerful camera.  I take most of my pictures at home anyway, and size won't be an issue there.  And when we do travel, Brandon will be around to help me carry everything. Once we've had it for a while, we'll evaluate whether we should acquire a smaller, more convenient camera that I can carry around in my purse.  Right now I'm just happy to have made a decision.  I'm going to order it today.  Yay!

Elora is feeling more like herself now.  She's still coughing, and she's still stuffy, and she still has twin streams of yellow goo running from her nose, but at least she's acting more normal.  She's playing on her own again, and jibber-jabbering and laughing.  She still won't eat her baby food though.  I've switched to giving her regular food that she can feed herself, and I'm having more success with that.  Granted, half of it ends up on the floor, but at least she's consuming something more than formula.  I hope she doesn't relapse!

All Over the Place

I made some delicious brownies yesterday, using a recipe from my new Nestle Tollhouse Cookbook.  Staria gave it to me for Christmas.

Elora pulled this plant stand down on herself today.  Elora was only startled, since it really fell around her.  The plant came too, of course.  It just didn't land on her.  Amazingly, it landed perfectly upright and the ceramic pot didn't even crack.  It scared the crap out of me. 

We are slowly trying to switch Elora over to drinking from a sippy cup.  She's not particularly interested in making the switch.

Jennifer, she loves the pillow that she inherited from you.  It's her thing.  The other day, it got left in the living room and wasn't in her crib when we tried to put her to bed.  She sat up and fussed, looking around in her crib for it.  As soon as I tracked it down and gave it to her, she laid down and went right to sleep.

My search for a new camera has become more urgent.  I'm not sure what she did, whether she dropped it or got it wet, but Elora has managed to render it feeble. (I stupidly left it on the coffee table, where she could reach it.)  This is as good a picture as it is now able to produce:

 

That is all.

Lessons Learned

I learned these things yesterday:

1) The doorway leading into my living room is wider than any other doorway in my home.  So, the baby gate I ordered fits every doorway but the one I ordered it to guard.  But, it'll work out.  We can use this one upstairs, for my craft room doorway, and we'll get another one--with the extension kit--for the living room.

2) My bookshelves are not as wide as I thought they were.  The bins I ordered to store Elora's toys in do not fit side by side on a single shelf, as I had planned.  This isn't a problem at all, though.  I have 2 bins, and 2 bookcases. It works out well. Here's one of them:

3)  Peeling grapes is a royal pain in the rear end.  The best part?  Elora only ate half of them.

4) The BBC version of Pride & Prejudice does not follow the book exactly, as I thought it did.

5) I can now make digi papers. 
 Ok, so it's not so much something I learned, but something I did.  This is what I started with:

 and I came up with these:

What do you think?  I know they're not perfect, but I'm thinking it's not too bad for my first try.  The original designs came out of a picture frame I bought.  I thought they were pretty, so I scanned them in to play with them.  For the 3 with textures, I used textures that I downloaded from here.  Now, what else can I do with these?