Today was the last day of school for the little kids. It was also Egypt day for E. In honor of the big event, why not buy crystal pyramids to put on top of your cupcakes? Or pyramid puzzles which don’t look very Egyptian but would still work. I like these metal figures better though.
Daily Dose of Cupcakes Read More »
Life is funny. I just finished making hotel reservations for a trip to Charleston after Christmas and now I find an email asking me to review HotelReservations.com for ReviewMe. I wish I’d gotten this paid review request earlier in the day.
The first thing I noticed about HotelReservations.com was the $100 Rebate button. I clicked. Not a bad deal. If I had booked my brief trip to Charleston through this site, I could have had a $20 rebate on top of a rate that is $2 per night lower than booking straight through the hotel’s website. That, my friends, is a deal. Which makes it worth going to a website that has a typo right on the front page (Advence should obviously be Advanced).
Another thing I noticed, when searching for a hotel in Charleston, SC for a few days after Christmas, is the ability to sort by a lot more variables than other reservation sites. You can choose from a huge list of landmarks and ask for hotels close to those. That would have come in handy for me on a few trips to south Florida and a trip to Atlanta where we found ourselves a little bit further afield than we’d originally hoped.
I went surfing around the vacation packages, too. I almost bought a package and that never happens. Actually I was torn between two and I may still go back and grab one, if I can decide between them (and choose a date that works for us, and scrape up the money to pay for the trip). I have no idea how the site managed it but they showed me TWO hotels that I really love in NYC in the first page of results. That simply never happens because neither hotel is a top pick on the other reservation sites I have used.
I haven’t had any problems using the search. The site moves quickly and hasn’t returned any odd results. I might actually give this one a try the next time I book a weekend. If I do, I’ll come back and blog about it again.
Making Hotel Reservations Read More »
Last week I sent you over to myspace to listen to Miss Liberty = now you can head over to youtube and watch Melissa play it live. And then you can keep your fingers crossed that she plays it LIVE when we see her.
Lifts up her skirt to tease and flirt…. Read More »
Who knew Jeanette Winterson could write such a great young adult fantasy book, and it’s not gay at all! There’s not even any gender confusion. Weird, eh?
Tanglewreck is the story of the Timekeeper. The Timekeeper is important because time is totally screwed up. We never have enough of it, time is always flying, stuff like that. I mean it’s REALLY flying and we REALLY don’t have enough. That’s the problem and the Timekeeper is the solution.
Really a good book, your fantasy loving kids will enjoy it.
Gingerbread House Day is December 12th so track down some miniature gingerbread buttons or scrapbooking embellishments or beads and top your cupcakes with those. Or bake some mini gingerbread people and stand them up on your cupcakes.
Daily Dose of Cupcakes Read More »
I guess it isn’t all Jane Lawless, after all. I didn’t love The Iron Girl but I sure liked it more than Stage Fright. How many women has Jane Lawless been through? She has bedded more women than, errrr, well a lot of women.
I think I like the Sophie Greenway mysteries better than the Jane Lawless mysteries – which is too bad since Sophie isn’t a dyke and it’s odd too because all of the food is just not “me”. But there you have it, I’m a contradiction.
Nickie’s year in review was good. Mine, not so good. Interesting though.
January: I mentioned in my ABC’s of 2005 that six MP3 players have come through
our home this year and now you folks get my oh so knowledgable review.
February: Once again I find myself pining away for a cooking gadget.
March: Happy Pig Day!
April: April snuck up on me.
May: Nuthinfancy
is on vacation so I may be the only one posting "What is this doing in
my house, Monday" but that’s ok because my entry is good.
June:
Happy National Doughnut Day – courtesy of Krispy Kreme.
July: July has arrived and that means it is time to review.
August: I am still traveling and have very little time to write but I’m getting
really sort of annoyed and troubled by some of the blog posts I’m
reading regarding Blogher’s cliques, celebrities and queers.
September:
Tomorrow is my sister’s birthday so today’s cupcake topper will be in her honor – Oscar the Grouch.
October: Since September is about survival around here I didn’t expect to scratch many items off the list.
November: This post is really just for the Gainesville folks, the rest of you will be bored to tears.
December: It’s National Cookie Cutter Week!
Grab the first line of the first blog entry each month and post your review.
What sort of year was it Read More »
So, I’m finished with my holiday shopping. Except for one item for Prince J, one item for RJ and one item for E (and of course the converse high tops from 2004 that Christopher wants which I will never find). Those three items I still need to get, they are easy and I’m really just waiting for my daily schedule to allow me to pick these items up. So I’m finished.
Now that I am finished with my holiday shopping, you would think I would be all happy and rubbing it in the faces of every one of you who are still suffering. But really, that’s not what this post is about. This is about me remembering why I do not like to finish my holiday shopping early.
Now, there is nothing to do.
Oh sure there is decorating and baking and crafting and wrapping and stuff like that. But without holiday shopping, it feels weird – like I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing. This happens to me every year that I finish early. I find myself at loose ends. Worse yet, I find myself shopping anyway – buying more gifts and more gifts and more gifts.
This year, I refuse to do that. I am finished and I am staying finished. Aren’t I? Bah, this is worse than quitting smoking!
Prematurely finished Read More »
OK so it isn’t the first day of Christmas but today, it feels like it.
We’ve officially kicked off the holiday with wooden ornament crafting courtesy of the nice women at APO Industries. And when I say courtesy, I mean courtesy. Rebecca was kind enough to send us a sample pack of wooden ornaments – free – and all she wanted in return was for us to enjoy ourselves and then blog about it. So here I am, blogging about it and we really did enjoy ourselves.
Let’s do a quick review of the Flamingo House children, shall we? Michelle is almost 17 and today, she is sick. She also is in the midst of college finals. Yes, let your imagination loose and you are probably getting a clear picture of Michelle today.
Next, we have Prince J who is 13 and even on his best day will tell you that he would rather NOT be painting. And on a day when a brand new Eragon for Gameboy was waiting, well let your imagination wander and you’re probably getting a clear picture of Prince J.
Next up RJ, who is 11, and always agreeable even though she’s begun to experience that pre-teen angst.
And then Miss E who is always up for painting and crafting but is especially appreciatiave of holiday crafting. There you have it – the kids who participated in the holiday wood ornament painting event.
Let me tell you – it was fun. And I’m not being even a little sarcastic. Michelle was not her bubbley self but she did smile and she didn’t hide from the camera. Prince J giggled all of the way through his painting, even as he said he’d rather be …. (fill in the blank). This kid will rant and rave about crafting but he always does it with a smile and a laugh, it’s actually one of his most redeeming qualities. 
RJ chose the most complicated of ornaments and she did an excellent job. The gold star on the candle makes it seem more festive, she says – and she’s right. Miss E loved her rocking horse and reminded me very much of the year Jennifer and Christopher painted wooden horses for the holidays. Kids grow too quickly. Miss E enjoyed her painting so much that she painted the extra shape and would have happily painted more.
For awhile, I thought we might pull out the wood burner and do a little creative burning onto these cut-outs. I think Prince J would have liked that and the shapes would have handled the burning just fine. Not enough time for that tonight, maybe next time we’ll give that a try and then stain the shapes with an antique red or antique green stain.
Yes, there will be a next time. You can see the entire gallery of photos, here.
Now about the wood cut out ornaments. The set we had was the Jack Collection – 5 ornaments for $5 and free shipping. The shipping was very, very fast. The only thing you need to remember is, it doesn’t come with paint and the set doesn’t come with string or ribbon. I don’t find either of those to be a problem, having paint around the house is always a must when you have kids and I prefer to choose my ribbon and string for these sorts of things anyway. Rebecca also sent us the Dog at the Mantle – 2006 ornament. I’m actually going to stain that and use it as an embellishment on a gift for a certain family member who shall remain nameless because he/she reads this blog. Heh.
If you’re looking for a wood ornament craft then I’d recommend Rebecca and her mom at APO Industries. And if you order, I’d love it if you’d blog about it and link me to your blog. (Especially if you share photos of the fun!)
On the first day of Christmas…. lalalala
On the first day of Christmas… Read More »
I think I love the UnSuggester a lot more than I’ve ever loved a suggestion tool. (They were slashdotted so if you click and it doesn’t work, try again later!)
Try it! It’s a total time suck!