Week in the Life - Thursday, July 28

The usual, up at 5:50am, ready for the 7:20am train  Which was 22 minutes late.  Without any announcements on the track.  If it weren't for Eva's smartphone, we wouldn't have known.  Although then I could have turned around and "worked" from home...

Spent 5 hours doing that damned 500+ line report for Grainger. No matter what, I just KNEW I'd wind up doing it...

Ate two sandwiches for lunch - no idea why.  They were just so good...  Then I had to eat dinner 'cause if I didn't, J wouldn't eat dinner and he had nothing all day.  Think I'll be taking a Tagamet before I go to sleep!

Took some photos of theclock tower and the train station in Hoboken, Franklin Avenue in Nutley, the front porch of our house.

Tested Sue's chocolate chip cookies (she put too much baking powder or baking soda in them and she was afraid they tasted bad).  Chatted with Shifra and her girls for a little while, and an old neighbor (the Dennises up the street, who moved to Florida years 9 years ago).  She popped by to see the neighborhood...

Picked up some photos at Costco for the past few days of Week in the Life. 

Got P's anniversary card today.  It was a funny one!

Pinterest

Not that I'm late finding Pinterest, but I'm late posting my LOVE of Pinterest on my blog and linking you to my pages so you can see what floats my boat!!!

Enjoy!!!  If you want an easy way to keep track of images off the internet that pique your interest (Pinterest!), click on "Send Me and Invitation" at the top of my main page.

Krys' Pinterest Pages

Week in the Life - July 25th,26th, and 27th

I'm doing Ali Edward's Week in the Life project this week, and I guess what I'll do, starting a couple of days late, is summarize my days here on the blog, so I have a record somewhere, just in case the jotting down thing doesn't work!  (And I know it doesn't 'cause sometimes I forget to jot...)  I'll go back and add photos when I'm on my laptop...

Monday, July 25th
Took the day off from work to spend it with J - it IS, after all, our 12th wedding anniversary!  He got up at 7 to go to the gym; I slept in a little later than usual.  Got into the shower at 7:30, watched some Good Morning, America, lounging around in bed.  We opened our anniversary cards and then went to breakfast at the Corner Bakery Cafe (iced caramel latte and a slice of pumpkin bread for me, coffee and a banana for J). 

By 10am we were in Hoboken to help Gen and Murray move some furniture from her mom's apt to their house.  (Gen's mom passed away a couple of weeks ago and she has to have all her mom's stuff moved out of the senior housing apartment by Sunday.)  Spent some time just talking with her about her loss and about dealing...  So sad...  By 1pm we were done so we were off to WalMart.  Did a little shopping, didn't buy anything, though (THAT must be a first!).  J asked about air conditioners; he's thinking about putting a new one in our bedroom; the small one takes too long to cool off the room.  I think I'd rather put one on the first floor; we don't have a working one down there and it was pretty miserable last week when we had that heat wave.  We went to the Olive Garden for "soup, salad, and breadsticks" (no cooking for me on our anniversary!).  Back home where we both putzed around for a while, him in the basement and outside, me cleaning our room and the computer room.  It's still in a shambles from the burst pipe - need to really put all that stuff back in the closet!  Some cold salads for dinner; we were still full from lunch!  Dropped $25 at Mom's for A - she finally realized she can make some gas money cleaning Babci's house for her, a deal I offered her last summer and she forgot about until last week!  Went to my sister-in-law's house for our usual Monday dessert.  We watched T's graduation video to see her give her speech, watched E take a few steps on her own (she's thisclose to walking by herself!), and then went home at 10pm, watched some TV and went to sleep.  Happy Anniversary to us!!!  One of the best moments of the day:  E falling asleep in my arms - you can feel her little body just becoming heavier and heavier...  Love the smell of a baby!  Got the invitation for Ezra's bar mitzvah.

Tuesday, July 26th
Woke up at 4:30 to visit the bathroom (too much coffee the night before!) so played a couple of rounds of Words with Friends on my iTouch.  Back to work - the usual:  up at 5:50am, in the shower and getting ready to be on the 7:20 train to Hoboken. Took some tomatoes from our garden to snack on at work.  A tractor trailer got stuck under the Delawanna bridge near the train station - just can't understand how this happens.  You know how high your truck is - you know how high the bridge is.  If the truck is higher than the bridge, don't drive under it!  Seems easy to me...  Played catch up all day at work - lots of phone calls and emails... 

Caught up on some blog reading at lunch, and worked on a To Do list that includes prepping for Mom's b'day lunch on the 7th.  Lunch was pasta with peas and bacon in a cream sauce - not too healthy, I know, but yummy!  Of course I balanced my meal with a sugar-free raspberry iced tea!  Then I promptly ruined it farther with free Ben & Jerry's ice cream!  The B&J truck is apparently traveling the country and yesterday was Hoboken's day!  They were promoting two new flavors:  Americone (vanilla with caramel and chocolate-covered waffle cone pieces) and Late Night Snack (vanilla with caramel and chocolate-covered potato chips).  When I told J about it, he knew IMMEDIATELY I was an Americone kind of girl!  (He knows me so well!)  J had to go in to work at the garage at 8am instead of at noon; someone ripped the sidewalls on 128 tires at the Comcast lot!  Think they're annoyed at the new union regs?  We had a cold Spicy Italian sub at Subway for dinner and went to see HP7.2 for the third time!  (LOVE those free movie tickets on Tuesday nights!  Thanks, Optimum!) 

When we came outside, it had apparently rained; it smelled like a warm summer night's rain.  According to Neen, it STORMED while we were in there, complete with lightning and thunder!  And we missed it all!  Both of us fell asleep quickly last night - we must have been tired!

Wednesday, July 27th
Up at the usual time, a delicious iced caramel latte from Chock full o'Nuts to start my day.

Catching up on my blogging (you're reading this, aren't you!?!?).  Checked Amazon delivery notification:  yay, my 2nd Project Life binder is being delivered!  (Becky, mine is already too full for the one binder, so I ordered another!  Thanks, Ali, for encouraging us to add extra pages!).  Taking Mom to get our nails done tonight.

Here's a photo of the vitamins and supplements I take every night before I go to bed.  I do feel better in a number of ways, so I guess they're working.

This is a new blouse that I bought at Dress Barn earlier this week.  I also got it in maroon.  I got two others at the same time, a black and white floral tank that looks awesome with my white shorts, and a ruffled floral top that I think flatters my shape, but at the same time makes me look a little boxier/shorter, not in a bad way.

Words with Friends:  My name is Krys and I am a Words with Friends-aholic.

Dinner tonight was peppers and onions on a garlic pesto wrap - mmm, good!

Posting... Finally!

It's been a while...  But I was traveling.  To St. Louis for business, to Atlantic City for vacation, then to the lake for the rest of the week...
Timing is everything and I managed to time a last minute trip to STL around a surprise party for my best friend from college.  I flew into STL in the morning, businessed as I had to, then checked into my hotel.  It was 2 blocks away from historic downtown St. Charles, so I spent Friday night eating at The Mother-in-Law House Restaurant, and wandering along the MO River and into some stores that were still open.  [Surprising to me was the fact that so many of the boutique-y stores closed before 8pm on a Friday night, while it was still light out and while tourists galore were still tourist-ing around town...

On Saturday, I went downtown again (a nice walk in some very hot and humid weather, although it didn't hold a candle to my current 101 degrees and 75-degree dewpoint) and decided at the last minute to go get my toes done for the party.  I went into the Chamber of Commerce/Tourism Office and the closest pedicure to my hotel was $56.  Yea, right.  So I hopped in my 2011 red Impala and drove to the big intersection near the hotel (it was a bit too scary to walk!) and went into Walgreen's.  I looked for a nice lady to accost and ask directions from and of course, the very nice lady I chose wasn't a local!  But she pointed me to Zumbehl Road, two exits west of where I was, off Interstate 70, and said there were lots of malls there and she was sure I'd find something...

So I went.  I found boats, tons of boats parked in the parking lot outside a sporting goods store!  They looked so odd in the parking lot; there were more boats than cars!  I found a spa/salon who charged $46, but that included a $5 bottle of polish (so I wound up with a stocking stuffer for Mom!).  They could take me within 45 minutes and of course I wanted to go back and shower and get ready for the party, so I caved.

To kill 45 minutes I went to the St. Louis Bread Factory, aka Panera Bread in the rest of the world.  Apparently the "St. Louis Bread Factory" store name didn't cut it outside of St. Louis...  Had a delicious strawberry and poppyseed salad and a large iced tea.  Then I went and got probably the worst pedicure of my life for one of the highest costs I've ever paid, but they were cut and clean and polished, even if not as well as I get done here in NJ!  I also popped into this knitting store in honor of my middle sister and my mom - they're going to be opening a website and an online store soon...

I got ready, went to C's house, and he was being treated to a day'o'bowling by his 3 sons, since the bowling alley was way more air conditioned than the golf course (their original plan was a day'o'golf!).  He came in and was suitably surprised, especially when he saw his ex-roommate T and T's wife, who had come from Kansas City.  He commented about the distance, that he couldn't believe they came!  Then C's wife said something about them not winning the longest distance travelled award, and she pointed at me. 

C was FLOORED!  He couldn't believe I had come to MO for his party!  He ate dinner with T and J and me, and the three of us stayed the latest, after the rest of the party left.  I was the last to leave, at a little after 11pm; his youngest son was falling asleep in the living room!  We could have talked all night, but didn't.  I wanted to get a shot of the family before I left, so I asked them to pose for me.  I couldn't get them to look at me; well, DANNA couldn't get them all organized and in place so I just took a shot.  The flash got their attention and they IMMEDIATELY turned to the camera and smiled!

They invited me over for breakfast the next morning but I had to get to the airport so I couldn't.  It was so nice to see him - and apparently he, too, feels 6 years is too long between visits.  I only wish J had come with me...

Then on Monday, J and I left for AC.  He had to be there for a credit union seminar, and spouses always tag along.  I lost a little, then broke even, but I prefer to come out ahead.  It just didn't work this time; the slots were against me!  I sat on the balcony outside their meeting room for a few hours and got a nice sunburntan.  We had a nice dinner at Casa de Napoli in the Showboat Casino and Hotel and then came home on Wednesday. 

We hung around Clifton for a day or so, then went to see Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows, Part 2 in Real-D!  It was awesome!  My favorite one ever!  (We just went to see it a 2nd time this past Tuesday, for free, courtesy of Optimum Triple Play's benefits card.)

This weekend we went to the lake; there's central air there, so staying home where only my bedroom has a small air conditioner is not really an option.  I would have to shop in the mall, or sit in B&N for hours...

Speaking of B&N, which leads me to think of Borders...  How sad.  10K+ employees are losing their jobs.  10K!  In one shot.  Not 10 here, 20 there, a few hundred in our building when my company closed down...  10K!  I've never been a Borders fan; I didn't like the way their stores were arranged.  I feel as though in recent years they looked more at book "stuff" than at "books."  At least that was my feeling in-store...  I know someone who got their start in a Borders store, worked their way up to shift manager, or store manager (I forget), but then came to work at SDC and we became friends and I know she's hurting over the people she knows from her years there losing their jobs...  Do you realize that with the exception of a handful of independents (compared to years ago, and they're going the way of the wind, too, these days), B&N is all that's left? 

We spend hours in B&N a week NOW.  Guess it will be a bit more crowded soon...

P.S. I gave mom the polish as soon as I got home!  And the TSA officer thought my toes looked GREAT when she body scanned me in the airport...

My HP7.2 post is to come; in the meantime...

OMG - go to Cake Wrecks right now and see some more of these Harry Potter cakes!  They're incredible!
Here's one, to whet your appetite!!!

Colors!!

LOVE this room!  What I like the most is the combination of patterns and colors!  If only I could recreate this...  but I have trouble even doing it with scrapping papers - can you imagine the trauma if I tried to combine pillows?? 

From the handmade home...

I have a red/gold pattern of dragonflies on my sitting room window seats - I can't even get pillows for that 'cause I'm afraid the reds will clash.

Yea, I know I could buy them and return them if they don't work...  but I just keep looking...

OH, OH, OH - I was going to ask J to design me a table that fits what I need it for and I saw this one!!!
This would be an AWESOME way to use some of those books I was going to give away 'cause I had no room for them - what do you think???  (Yes, I'd have to do something about how it seems to sag a bit in the middle, but I like the idea of the legs...  Saw something similar recently using books for the base of a nightstand lamp...)

One of the comments on the blog was from someone who couldn't stand the thought of the books being damaged.  Okay, trust me, I GET that!  But I have such a hard time giving up any one of my books to the great big void that is the world that this would be a way for me to keep it, and use it, even if I couldn't ever read that particular one anymore...  and of course, there are plenty of old editions and $1 books you could save from the trash heap...

http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/07/17/daily-delight-stacked-book-desk-and-a-design-mystery/

Why Librarians 'Need to Be More Like Lady Gaga' - NEVER thought that would be a title of one of my posts!!!

Why Librarians 'Need to Be More Like Lady Gaga'


"This is one of the most exciting times to be a teacher-librarian in our country and is also the scariest. A revolution is at hand, and we need to be nimble, daring, digital and shift both our practice and the way the world thinks of school librarians and libraries. Some revolutions compel you to throw everything out. This revolution is easy... keep what you love but just make a shift....

"Shift perception! We need to be more like Lady GaGa than Lady Bird Johnson. We need to establish a clear, pervasive, vibrant, and involved presence in their school, community, and on the web. The more visible librarians are the less likely that they’ll be taken away. Those teacher librarians who are hiding their brilliant programs under a bushel, that's when they're most likely to get cut. We need to stay positive, be proactive, and always be professional!"

--Gwyneth Anne Jones, a teacher-librarian in Laurel, Md., who writes the Daring Librarian blog. Jones's piece was featured in yesterday's Washington Post.

From Shelf Awareness, Friday, July 15, 2011, Volume 2, Issue 1509

Books as Part of Your Every Day

I live with books.  Books are part of my home.  They're in my kitchen, in my living room, in my library, in my bedroom and in my bathroom.  They're in my dining room, in my car, in my pocketbook, and in my laptop bag.

I'm worried because there is no library at the lake - how will I be able to bring all my books with me?  Where will I put them?  Will I donate the ones that don't make the cut?  Will I sell them or auction them off?

There are so many ways to include books in your every day life.  Here's one way I never thought of...

http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/07/08/daily-delight-penguin-cover-deckchairs/

"E-Readers vs. Love?"

   E-Readers vs. Love?


   "I had one good pickup line, and e-readers ruined it."


   --Lisa Lewis in the New York Times, lamenting that when men are reading books on e-readers in public,
   she can no longer see what they're reading and say, "I love that book!"

   - Shelf Awareness Pro, Tuesday, July 5, 2011, Volume 2, Issue 1500

This is funny!  And, were I still single, oh-so-true!

Project Life

I'm doing Becky Higgins' Project Life this year.  I bought last year's binder package when it went on sale on Amazon for, if I remember correctly, $30 or $40.  I've bought some different divided page protectors so that I could include multiple sizes, additional photos, etc.

Here are some photos, from Week 1 on...  I'm not including spreads for each week, and some might be more overview and others might be close up...

A list of scrapping classes I'm taking in 2011

When I have to go back and fill something in, I just insert a Post-It with a scribbled note.  If I don't go back and finish the page, the memories are still there, sparked by that little note...



I took a photo of my favorite soda while food shopping in Shop Rite.



Mom came home from AZ so I took some photos in the train station while I was waiting for her.



I bought myself a necklace from Lisa Leonard.  It included my 2011 word:  FOCUS.



Aunt Fanny died.  Nothing more to say.  RIP, Aunt Fanny!  We miss you!



Kat brought us all a candy snack from Japan so I saved the label!



Love you and miss you, Kazia!



Paying bills - I could post a picture like this twice a month, but I won't...  That would be cheating...  and really boring!



I'll post a few more photos another time - My friend E is coming up on Saturday to do some scrapping.  I've almost got her converted, to a small degree.  She joined me at the Rockaway crop earlier in June and made herself a mini-book.  And LOVED it!  She loved the process, the end result!  Everything!  Yay!  Someone else to scrap with!  (Yea, I know, don't end a sentence with a preposition...)

Libraries and Bookstores, Oh, My!!!

From My Shelf, Shelf Awareness for Readers, Volume 1, Issue 4, June 24, 2011


On Browsing

I hope no one will mind if I give a shout out to my very local indie bookstore, One More Page Books in Arlington, Va. I say "very local" because Eileen McGervey's new (launched in 2011) shop is less than a mile from my front door--I can even walk there via the W&OD Trail bike path.

But I'm not talking up One More Page to get you to shop there (although you would be very happy if you did). I want to talk about a quote I read recently in the delightful Pushcast Press compendium of quotations Book Love: A Celebration of Writers, Readers, and The Printed Bound Book, edited by James Charlton and Bill Henderson (who also wrote the introduction). Helene Hanff's quote is "I don't browse in bookshops. I browse in libraries, where you can take a book home and read it, and if you like it you go to a bookstore and buy it." It stopped me right in my tracks with its elegant logic.

I find Hanff's reasoning sound, but for me, browsing in a library is wholly different than browsing in a bookstore. In the library, things are catalogued and cross-referenced. Anyone who has ever worked on a research paper will know the feeling of sliding down an archival rabbit hole while digging out library material that leads you in all different directions, but are, happily, somehow connected.

In a bookstore, you may wind up running in different directions, but it won't always be because things are connected. Perhaps you spend an hour looking at the latest mysteries--then remember that you need to find a great book on wine for a Father's Day gift. Oh, and your book club chose that bestselling novel... hmmm, what's this? A new literary magazine?

Libraries and bookstores are both wonderful places to browse, and I prefer not to go without either one.--Bethanne Patrick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm bemused by this article.  I don't keep every book I read; I do keep a large number of them.  But I read so much that I'd run out of space quickly.  I couldn't possibly fit every book I read on a shelf in my house.  I am one of those B&N customers they love to hate:  I buy every week, usually more than one book at a time, but I also read others while I'm there, books I have no intention of buying or owning.  I would LOVE to support my local library more, but due to the usual constraints of budget and time, I can rarely get over there and they rarely have the books I want to read. 
 
I read all the time.  Most of what I read now is current and new.  At the library those books are already on reserve for other members.  I'm out of the publishing loop; I don't see as much as far in advance as I used to, so I'm into the immediate gratification of reading what I see when I want to read it and if that means I have to read it in the store, over a caramel macchiato, so be it.  It might also mean I pick up one or two or three books for the next few days, those that are by authors I LOVE, or stories I've been waiting to read...
 
For those of you who have been following my "I don't want an e-reader 'cause I love books" rants, hold onto your hats.
 
I'm going to have to cave and buy one, no idea which one, but I'll have to do so by October.  Harry Potter e-books will be available only from http://www.pottermore.com/ and all digital rights belong to JK Rowling.  Smart woman, that JK.  Bloomsbury and Scholastic will get proceeds from the sales, but her initial contract for HP1 didn't include digital rights for the publisher and subsequent contracts were identical.  Smart businesswoman or lucky duck?  Either way, she will be the primary beneficiary of all those e-book sales and yes, I will be buying each and every one for whichever reader is the best at the time they're released.
 
iPad?  Kindle?  Nook?  Not keen on the Kindle 'cause that means I can ONLY buy from Amazon.  Nook?  Not all that enthused about contributing to that whole monopoly thing (and I love indy bookstores!).  iPad?  Oh, I'm geeky enough to want one, but apparently there are a few more tablets coming out that I'll have to look into before I commit...  Will be discussing with my IT-savvy pals as October draws nearer...
 
I'll have to own whatever I need for the HP books but that's all I'll admit to right now!

I know I'm not David Letterman...

...but I just found a news headline I love in today's edition of Shelf Awareness, June 20, 2011, Volume 2, Issue 1489:

Favorite headline of the day: "Go the F**k to Your Local Bookstore," from the Colorado Springs Independent.

Ouch, that HAD to hurt!!!

If you don't want to read about tattoos and/or piercings, please don't click on the following link.  But if you want to read a short funny blog post about the newest piercing fad to hit the NY beaches, please visit Laid Off Dad at http://laidoffdad.typepad.com/lod/2011/06/beyonce.html.  I "found" Doug years ago (I don't even remember how - perhaps through Dooce?) and I've been a fan ever since.

Libraries

Forty-Year-Old Wisdom About Libraries


"[A library] isn't just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you--and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life."

--Isaac Asimov in a March 16, 1971, letter to children at the newly opened Troy, Mich., public library, as posted on lettersofnote.com.

From Shelf Awareness, June 10, 2011, Volume 2, Issue 1482

Miscellaneous "Stuff"

I've run across a few things lately that strike a chord with me...  I think I'll just post them out here for $%&#$@ and giggles...

I'm on Weight Watchers.  I'm not grossly overweight but I can sure stand to lose a few more pounds.  A few years ago I lost 25 lbs and was well on my way to getting to my goal weight.  Then I fell into the trap that so many newbie WWs fall into:  I can do this on my own.  Well, I can't.  I need WW.  And I still trip and stumble and justify two cotton candy treats by saying, "But they're fat-free!"  Yea, they are, but they're not sugar-free!!!   And sugar + metabolism = carbs = weight.  Anyway, gained about 15-20 of those same lbs back, but have recently climbed back into the WW wagon and I'm down 17.3# from my highest.  So I have a bit more to go to reach the 25 lbs lost, but I'm shooting for a grand total of 30-35 lbs lost.  I'm doing it slowly and hoping the summer fruits and vegetables really give it a kick-start!  In the meantime, I ran across this image and thought, "This is one of those ah-ha moments Oprah was talking about!"  (Yea, not an Oprah fan but I read a lot!)

We've been talking about gay marriage lately, probably because locally they're running quite a few television ads in support of it in my neck of the woods.  I just don't get the objection, I really don't.  I'm happy, so happy, in my marriage.  Why wouldn't I wish that for each and every human on the planet?  And if it happens to be another guy or girl, depending on the person we're referring to, who cares?  I'm Roman Catholic.  My faith is very important to me.  I practice.  I get so much support and strength from my relationship with God.  I have a hard time believing that He would be against it, that he would punish those that find love and affection and support in someone of the same sex, rather than the opposite sex.    I'm NOT posting this to generate comments.  I'm just saying...

I ran across this photo on the Pinterest site; I think it originated on Martha Stewart's website.  I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to put this on the left wall as you walk into the lake house.  I'd LOVE to remove the broom closet and the pantry and just push these shelves back into that space.  I'd even push the drawers back flush with the back of the locker space so they're not sticking out and tripping our guests, but I.DON'T.HAVE.A.COAT.CLOSET.IN.THE.LAKE.HOUSE.  Well actually I do; Jack just built one in the basement so we'd have somewhere to hang at least our seasonal jackets and coats when we're living there full time in a few years...