Sunday, February 24

Oscars...

So Mister is not home this evening, and I have a bunch of odds and ends to do here in the family room while Peanut sleeps...

So because I always have comments on what is going on in Hollywood and no one to listen to me, I'll just blog them instead!!

  • It's the red carpet right now - and did Steve Carrell just walk by with "Jan" from the Office? That would be odd... Nope. He's married to Nancy Walls, who just happens to look a LOT like Jan. Wonder what Nancy thinks about him acting with a lookalike?

  • Jennifer Garner looks amazing, but she does not need to have her hair hanging in her face...

  • I want to see La Vie en Rose - it's on my queue, hadn't heard of it until just recently. Now it's an Oscar winner. Cool. And again! Best Actress? That's all the more enticing...

  • Way to rock the belly bump, Cate Blanchett!

  • Casey Affleck. Didn't see the Assassination of Jesse James yet, but he was phenomenal in Gone, Baby, Gone. I mean phenomenal. All those years of my making fun of Ben Affleck's lack of acting ability - they are all made up for by his little brother's performance in Gone, Baby, Gone. I'm sorry he didn't win the Oscar.

  • Yeah! The Bourne Ultimatum just won an Oscar!! Or two! Or three! Loved that movie... that was one that Mister was willing to watch over and over...

  • Once! Once! Once! (Does that make it Thrice?) Come on, please win!! Oh my gosh, this really is my favorite CD right now. I just love Marketa's voice... He even played the insanely broken down guitar from the movie. And they both just looked like real people on stage, not glitzy in the slightest. (She was wearing a butt-bow, for goodness sake, eh Lola?)

  • First laugh of the night from Jon Stewart: "According to imdb.com, the next presenter is the star of the 2010 Untitled Project of Nicole Kidman... Nicole Kidman!"

  • OH MY GOSH!!! WOOHOO! The only award that I really cared about this year was for Once, and they just got it! Oh wow. I am just absolutely blown away! Oh phew- that dress is so much better. Isn't he just adorable? "Make art, make art, tanks!"

  • I have such a little crush on James McAvoy. (Sigh!) And now that Atonement won the Best Original Score, I'm all about watching this when it comes out on DVD.

  • Helen Mirren looks beautiful tonight. She has the most amazing, age-appropriate gowns.
As always, the show went a little long. I'm tired. There were some lovely gowns, and one of my favorite songs won an award! Mister has No Country For Old Men in his queue. I'm intrigued because everyone says it is a flawlessly executed film, but I have to admit I'm a bit worried about the violence. I'll let you know what I think - it won the Best Director and Best Picture which makes me just a tad more interested in it!

so... uh... what happened to my winner's post?!

I thought I typed it all in, but I just came back to start my Oscar's post, and my winner's post wasn't here!

So... without any further ado, let me congratulate Dee at the Diary of a Mad Crafter! If you want to email your address to lifeasamama AT gmail DOT com, then I'll get this out in the mail ASAP!

Friday, February 15

Baby a Baby Contest

So, fellow yarn-aficionados...

It's time to start giving away some of that jewelry!

This contest is only open to participants in the Baby a Baby Swap - sorry to my other readers - but keep watching... there'll be another giveaway soon. As you can see here, the prize is a lovely set of drop earrings as well as a handy around-the-neck-holder-of-stuff. Perhaps you're like my crocheting friend who can never find her scissors? Or maybe it's your glasses that are always just out of reach... Use this to keep them right at hand. The jewelry is by Erin, and it's really lovely.I've been trying to think of a fun contest for you all to do. Since I haven't had any brilliant dashes of inspiration, how about this... Leave a comment on this post about the quality you most look for in a mate. If you're married or in a relationship, what was it that attracted you to this person? If you're not, then what do you most want in your future someone?

(I have romance on the brain right now as we just had V-day and our anniversary is only a couple of days away...)

I am not going to judge the answers, but I'll take all of the eligible comments and draw out of a hat. I'll do that on Monday morning, so I can put the jewelry in that afternoon's mail!

if my cheeks are red...

It's because I'm embarrassed.

A telemarketer just called, which meant that Peanut saw me talking on the phone. She gets all excited about that, and so I usually let her play with the phone for a minute or two, because pushing the buttons makes great beepy noises. I am pretty careful to keep pressing "end" every couple of seconds to make sure she doesn't place a call.

She just did.

And if you're going to call anyone on your VERY FIRST accidental phone call, who should you call?

The Police Department two towns over. They just called to say they had a hangup and was everything okay?

Wednesday, February 13

i am a winner...

So in the whole Bloggy Giveaway recently, I won a couple contests, and received a prize in the mail today... six pieces of jewelry from www.jewelrybyerin.com! THEY ARE AMAZING! Oh, sorry for shouting. They are, though!

This set was my favorite - and even though they don't match my outfit, they went on as soon as I took this picture to share with you:But really, I don't need that much new jewelry. What would happen would be that I'd wear one piece over and over again and forget about the other, just as lovely, pieces... so I have decided to share the wealth!

Keep watching over the next couple of weeks, because I'm going to have some random giveaways - not connected to any giant Bloggy Giveaways or Blog Parties. Well, maybe I'll save some for the Blog Party.

does it really say that?

So I have ventured into the dizzying world of making bows for little girls' heads. Well, not just any girl. Just Peanut. I have no visions of starting my own bow-making business or anything like that... there's plenty out there already!

I picked up a couple small rolls of ribbon yesterday at Hobby Lobby, along with a low temperature glue gun. I already had a few dozen alligator clips... I made a couple this morning, and they're adorable! After finishing them, I was cleaning up my craft desk, and was going to throw out the package to the glue gun... when I saw this:
Well, I should hope so! I don't plan on putting glue in my children. :)

Tuesday, February 12

Becoming Jane

My Craft Night girls and I decided that tonight's get together was going to be a movie night instead... we only do this for special occasions, and an Austen movie coming out on DVD? That's a special occasion!

We just finished Becoming Jane... and I am still in awe of how much this movie gripped me - there's so much tension in this movie... romantic tension, sexual tension, obligations, duties, passion.... holy cow. Who the heck cares if it's completely historically accurate? It sure made an amazing story!

I got it through Netflix (of course) and I'd like to send it back tomorrow so that I can get a new movie soon, but I may have to watch it again in the morning. How bad is that? But I spontaneously decided this morning to make a Valentine's / anniversary present for Mister... our anniversary is on the 18th, but I ordered a present online for him, and if it isn't here by Thursday afternoon, I'm going to have to have something else for him and I'll give him the online gift on Monday. It's nothing much, it's just a scarf, but he needs one, and I've never crocheted him anything. Weird. But I ran out of yarn right at the end of the movie tonight, so I think I might go to the store in the morning, then come home and crochet while watching it again... see, it's all for him, right?!

Monday, February 11

A project for '08

One thing I remember vividly from homeschooling was having to keep track of every book we read for a couple of years. We had a chart where we had to write down the title, author, and a very brief synopsis. It was great, since I have a really bad tendency to forget stories. In fact, I read a book as a child that I've been searching for ever since.

It was about a poor little rich girl who was handicapped - I think she was in a wheelchair - and it was set around the turn of the 1900's. She was somewhat estranged from her dad, I think...

Yeah, I don't remember much more than that, but I remember that I absolutely loved it. That chart was very helpful for when I'd want to go back and re-read something.

So. My project for '08 is to keep a list of all the movies I watch, just to see a) how ridiculously many there are, and b) for fun. At the end of the year, I'll make a top ten list of the movies that I really really liked. There's already been a couple contenders. Once is right up there. If you're at all interested in my list so far, there's a link on the left hand side of the blog, but you can also find it here. I'm hoping to keep a list of the books I read, as well. That might be a bit harder, since I don't have Netflix to spur my memory for January...

baby sign update

I know I keep posting on this these days, but it's really the highlight of what's going on in my world. The last time I posted about Peanut's vocabulary, it consisted of:

  • more
  • eat
  • baby
  • cat
  • all done
  • banana
  • dog
  • milk
  • light
In the five weeks since that post, she's added:
  • diaper
  • bird
  • pig (which also gets applied to cows)
  • shoes
  • cloth wipes (she made up a sign for this... but they are her favorite toys -she carries a stack of them all around the house)
  • pacifier
  • please
  • hot (which also gets applied to cold)
  • hat
And maybe some others - but that's what's coming to mind at the moment. Not bad, huh? Of course, many of these aren't signed perfectly. They're kind of the "baby talk" version of signing, where it's approximate. Others, like pig, hat and please are perfect - anyone who knows ASL would completely understand what she's saying... It does make it a lot more fun to be out and about with her. We were walking along the outside of a building in town recently, and there's a metal sculpture of a couple owls on the side of the building - and she got my attention and signed bird... she was so excited that she saw a bird!

I had a really good story about her signing, but I forgot. I'm off to go see if I can't convince her to take a nap - we have a lot to do this afternoon, and I need a shower and hopefully a little more sleep, but in order for those to happen, she needs to nap!

Sunday, February 10

i got tagged!

All righty then, I was tagged by Annalea over at The Passionate Mind to reveal 7 random facts about myself. Hmm... The sad part is, I was tagged by I Speak Beanish a long time ago, and I was such a booger that it's taken me double-tags to get around to doing it!

Okay, here goes... Here's the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.


1. I have an insane phobia of cotton balls. Not really a phobia, since I don't think they are out to get me or anything, but I just hate the feeling of them. So much so that I am physically cowering in my desk chair as I type this out, and I'm more than a little sick to my stomach. GROSS. I have psychoanalyzed myself to the point of realizing that this comes from my violent hatred of vitamins from when I was a child. We had to take these Shaklee multivitamins, and while I have nothing against either Shaklee or vitamins, those were pretty much the most disgusting thing I've ever smelled in my life. They were giant, green and smelled like rotting something-or-other. And before you could get to these delicacies, you had to pull the cotton out of the jar. So the squeakiness of the cotton (do you know what I mean?) is tied to the whole experience in my head. Cornstarch has a similar grating feel, and so I'm not too comfortable with that, either. Okay, I only touch it when ABSOLUTELY necessary.

(Pause while I regain my composure and quell my nausea with a little caffeine-free Coke. ICK!)

2. When I was in highschool, my Mom wanted me to go to the Milwaukee School of Engineering, so that I could take advantage of the seriously good male-female ratio, and find myself a Catholic engineer. I didn't, and went to a Catholic college out in Ohio instead. Two years after finishing my MA there, I found myself a Catholic engineer on the internet. She knew that an engineer would be great for me, but just had the "how" a little off... I am still impressed.

3. I went to the National Junior Classical League conventions for three years in highschool (it's for Latin students)... and loved it! I got to go to Knoxville, TN, Lawrence, KA and Indianapolis, IN for a week at a time and compete and hang out with Latin students from all over the country. The highlight of the week was the "Certamen" competition, much like a quiz bowl, except that the questions were in categories such as "Latin derivatives," "Roman private life," "mythology, "Greek and Roman history," or "Latin grammar," to name a few. My senior year, I was one of the four-member team from WI, and we won NATIONALS! This was a huge feat, especially as we were not one of the four states that typically won....

4. I have a small diamond-shaped birthmark on my belly, and over the last couple of years, I've developed a couple dark freckles right in the middle of it. Needless to say, Peanut will occasionally latch on to it in order to crack me up. It does resemble my, um, normal milk-producing locations... just flatter.

5. I am a really good cook. I don't typically follow recipes, but play with flavors and textures and come up with things that are quite good. Ask Mister... he's gained more weight than he wanted since he met me. What can I say? It tastes so good he doesn't like to stop eating!

6. I am a total Catholic nerd. My particular hobby is Catholic saints - I love reading about their lives, and realizing people who lived centuries ago are so closely connected to us. Some of my personal favorites include Miguel Pro, Edmund Campion, Margaret Clitherow and Maximilian Kolbe, if I had to narrow it down to a few! We're hoping to name our first son after a somewhat obscure saint, but I definitely can't share that information here, as we want to keep it a secret.

7. I am a lazy bum when it comes to housework. I would rather read a book than do the dishes, any day. It's something I'm struggling with - and actually have been ever since I was old enough to start helping with chores when I was little. My mother would not be surprised at all to hear that I struggle with this, I can tell you that! I have a tendency to quick rush around and clean up breakfast while I'm making dinner... and then I'm embarrassed if Mister comes home early and realizes this!

Okay. Phew. There's seven. Um... as for tagging seven, I think I'm going to go with: Cellular Lola, my best friend since I can remember... Teresa at Glimpses of Galway, since I can't seem to find her more recent blog... Groovy at the groovyoldlady... Shannon at a Reforming Mom... Chris at Serendipity Mine... Amy at Raising Angels... and whoever else might possibly stumble across this post!

Friday, February 8

baby sign update

This girl can seriously communicate, although her speaking vocabulary is limited to "dada," "yeah" and "hey." She also says "shhh" for shoes, splash, and anything that possibly has a "shh" sound in it!

Today I was in the bathtub, sneaking a few moments of warmth and solitude while she was ensconced in the living room, busily rearranging my coasters for me. She does this for about a half an hour a day, so I figured I had a few moments for myself in between cleaning the house (my in-laws will be here in an hour and I'm procrastinating from vacuuming and going to the store).

Nope. Thirty seconds after the initial "ahhhh...." of warm water, there's a Peanut standing at the tub vigorously signing "drink, please, up, please, please, please..." By drink, she was referring to the water in the tub. She's not very good at the water sign yet, and her rendition of drink gets applied to anything liquid... So she got in with me and had a ball!

I think her most common sign is please. It's a great one, because it saves a lot of squawking. Although she doesn't always realize that I can't see her hand, and she signs please when I'm not looking at her... then she gets upset and squawks!

Peanut really does have quite the vocabulary now, though, and I really need to learn some more signs, because she's eager to learn more!

Thursday, February 7

Lent? Already!?

Wow... seriously, it feels like we just took down our Christmas tree. That liturgical year sneaks up on me everytime...

This year I've decided to try something new. Each week, I'm going to add something to my Lenten practices, whether that be making another sacrifice or adding something to my routine. That way, by the end of Lent, it should be pretty intense, and should really make me aware of what's happening.

I'm not sure what each week is going to look like yet, but this week (and then for all the remaining weeks), we'll be returning to our practice of a daily Rosary. We are normally horrible with this, and many months can go between our family Rosaries. I have to say, with Peanut around, it's a lot harder. Last night, she just wouldn't go to sleep (darn those late afternoon inadvertent naps when she just falls asleep on the floor!)... and so we ended up going to bed, turning out the lights, and praying in the dark, hoping that the repetition combined with the dark and cuddling with Mama in bed would put her to sleep. Basically, she just flipped out. Mister got to lead the prayers while I was on containment duty - she was more spastic than I've ever seen her! (Of course, she fell asleep moments after it was done. Darn kid!)

So. Daily Rosary. Next week, I'm going to return to my daily gym routine. Oof. This is one that knocks me right in my lazy patootie. So we're starting out with spiritual and physical discipline. Who knows what's coming next??

On a completly unrelated note, I'm very busy with my project for the Baby a Baby swap - and can I say that I am thrilled with the way it looks? My craft night buddies are loving it, too...

Friday, February 1

Bloggy Giveaway Winner!

The winner is Shannon over at A Reforming Mom! Thanks to all of you who entered... 176 of you! That's more than have ever entered one of my contests - woo hoo!!