Friday, October 19, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 20)

 -1-
So you might have noticed that I made a new header.  It's painfully obvious that *I* made the new header, because it looks so crudely done.  Believe it or not, that was four hours of trouble and toil right there.  ha!  It doesn't help that we have NO photo-editing programs besides the standard Microsoft editor and the totally un-user-friendly Paint, and that I am not very savvy with computers to begin with.  I like the idea of this header, but it just turned out "okay".  The worst part is that there's all that weird blurriness going on around the words in the title.  I went so far as to zoom way in on the picture and "clean it up" on the level of individual pixels.  I spent over half an hour doing that.  But after I saved it and zoomed back out, it kept reverting back to the blurriness!  What the heck?  I just gave up, and posted it as is.  That's as good as it's gonna get for now.


 -2-
I've been playing around a little with the blog recently.  On the left sidebar, I added a list of some favorite posts.  If you haven't been a reader from the beginning, and find yourself just dying for some more of my fabulous writing style, and also have tons of time on your hands...check them out.  ha!  No, it's fine if you don't.  But if you do find yourself reading them, I'd love if you left a comment letting me know your thoughts.  I love getting comments!  And I finally figured out how to reply directly after a specific comment (I told you - I am not computer savvy), so I promise to be better about answering questions, etc. you might leave there.



 -3-
And the last change I made on here is that I let Google put some ads on my page.  They still have to go through my blog to make sure it's not pornographic, etc. before they'll make them active.  Sorry if the ads annoy anyone.  But a few people suggested it as a way to make a little money, and every penny counts right now (I'm quite sure, however, that's about all it will generate: mere pennies.  Oh well.  It's something).



-4- 

It's a little early, but I'm already starting to think about Christmas and gift-giving (really, it's the gift buying aspect).  For our kids, we definitely want to keep it simple.  Not only are they both too young to even remember very long what they got for Christmas, but it's also about the precedent we will set.  I'd rather our kids receive a few special gifts that they can truly appreciate, instead of getting overwhelmed or coming to expect a ton of stuff every year.

Since I'm one to pick up gifts throughout the year as they present themselves to me, I think I'm already done "shopping" for Sly, without really even trying.  We have a real, but child-size drum we found at a thrift store, the game Hi Ho Cherry-o (I got an older version on eBay, since I don't like the modern one as much), and a cute squirrel book I couldn't resist at a recent "book party".  We'll also get some candy/stocking stuffers later.  That's plenty for a 2 year-old.

Stella really needs nothing since she's a baby.  But I think Sly might feel like she got jipped if Santa doesn't have a gift for her too.  She's obviously too young for it now, but I'm considering finding her a little baby doll.  If anyone knows of a good - and inexpensive - "first doll", please let me know in the comments!


 -5-
At two months old, Stella is now officially "out of our bedroom".  Yay!  It's nice to have some floor space back now that the enormous cradle is gone.  She's sleeping in a crib in the same room as Sly, and things have been good so far.  Though I don't put her down until I'm going to bed, around midnight - which is long after Sly has been asleep.  It could be a disaster once we start putting them to bed at the same time.  She wakes up around 6:30 wanting to nurse, at which point I grab her (before the little man has a chance to wake up), and bring her back to bed with me where we both get a few more hours of sleep.  It works out pretty well.



-6-
A bad habit I have is writing in a post about how I plan to start doing something, but then never mentioning it again, to fill people in on how its going.  I think this is because a lot of the time, I don't end up following through as well as I'd intended!

Anyways, I had said a while back that I wanted to start meal-planning for real each week, make a crockpot meal every Wednesday, and additionally try out one other new recipe each week.  Well, I am pleased to report that I've actually managed to stick to this resolution!  Meal planning has been good.  It gives me a lot more peace of mind to already know what's for dinner each night of the week, since cooking can take up a good-sized chunk of each day.  And I think my husband appreciates coming home to more meals that I've obviously  put thought and work into, instead of ones that were thrown together last minute (Me, previously: "Oh shoot, it's 5:30 already!  What's in the freezer?  Hotdogs, buns, aaaaand [digging through pantry]....a can of baked beans?  We're good!). Now if only I could get him to stop asking me every day "what's for dinner?" and remember to just look at the dang chalkboard!


 -7-

Has anyone else been watching Call The Midwife on PBS?  It's on Sunday nights.  I watched the first two episodes, but forgot about it last week!  It's an enjoyable British show about midwives in post-WWII London.  Worth checking out!


Quick Takes is hosted at Conversion Diary

16 comments:

  1. Ooooh, another British show that I need to watch! (Of course, I used to be able to watch a lot more television when Michael was two months old and always fell asleep in my lap after nursing ... too bad he doesn't nap for 45 minutes instead of 30, since that's how long most shows last, hehe.)

    Aside from the fuzzy text, I think the header looks pretty good!

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  2. Your header looks lovely. I'm with you in the lack of computer skills. I don't even have pictures on my header, and I only recently learned how to reply to comments. We also limit what we give our kids for Christmas. One big toy, one small toy, and a book, plus some little things in the stocking. The things you chose for Sly are perfect. We've had the game and the book, and the kids love them. (I'm here from 7 quick takes.)

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  3. "Now if only I could get him to stop asking me every day "what's for dinner?" and remember to just look at the dang chalkboard!"
    YES. Ok, my meal plan is in a binder so its harder to look up, but you'd think at least he'd start to remember what is for dinner by the 2nd or 3rd time he asks me! :)

    And I think your header looks nice too! The sizing is off, at least on my computer, but I didn't really notice the blurry words, and I like the layout!

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    1. hmm..what do you mean "the sizing is off"? I might actually know how to fix that, if you explain the issue.

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    2. Well, maybe it was intentionally done, but on my screen its only above the left and center columns, not the right. It looks like it ought to cover all three, or be centered.

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  4. Would you like me to fix that up for you in an editor? I'd just need to picture files and can do it fairly quick. (one benefit to my graduate studies is that I have all the nifty software...)

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  5. Hi Christine! I like your design. Is the "make do and mend" from the saying, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without"? We got Grace a doll for her first birthday that she LOVES (sleeps with, plays with, talks to, etc). I won't let her take it outside for fear we lose it (although we do make exceptions for baby hour at the library, so she can do the songs with her). It wasn't inexpensive, and she may have loved a different doll too; who knows. We got a white one, which of course looks dirty all the time, so I recommend one with a colorful outfit: http://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Babicorolle-Babipouce-Grenadine-Doll/dp/B000I668LQ/ref=sr_1_9?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1350693725&sr=1-9&keywords=corolle+babicorolle

    I've heard about Call the Midwives from someone else too--I need to watch it!

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  6. I read your comment about keeping Christmas simple, and I remembered this gift idea for this year and future years! One family in California we know from our time there does "Wise Men Gifts" for their children each year (they have 8 kids plus at least 3 grandchildren - I've lost count). Each child gets 3 gifts each to represent the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The "gold" gift is the main gift the child has asked for and usually is the most expensive of the three. The "frankincense" gift is usually some type of personal care product - their own kids are all teens and adults, so this is fairly easy. I think they used to do hair bows and such for the girls when they were little. The "myrrh" gift is something useful that the child needs like a new jacket or jeans. I just though it could be something you could "file away" for later! :)

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    1. Yeah, thanks - I will add that to my growing store of ideas for the future. I can see something like this being especially useful as our family grows.

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  7. I've been watching Call the Midwife and I've really been enjoying it so far. It is really interesting to see how midwifery has changed in the last sixty years! I never remember to watch it when it's on tv so I've been catching up online.

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  8. Bedtime won't be as disastrous as you think with two kids sharing a room. We even just ferberized Noah (who is 5 months old) this past week in the same room was Matthew. Matthew woke up the first night and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for 15 minutes in our bed until Noah was done screaming and then went back to bed easily. The past few nights he has slept straight through Noah's whimperings as he learns to put himself back to sleep. Noah goes to bed at 7:45 and Matthew goes to bed around 8:45, so Matthew also understands that we have to be very quiet and show Noah how to sleep. This works well for us. Noah gets up around 1:30 to eat and around 4:30 to eat and Matthew sleeps through that pretty well. Noah is also up around 7 in the morning and at that point, I do rush in to get him so Matthew doesn't wake up an hour before he is supposed to. But as Stella gets older, it won't be so bad. In fact, as I type, both kids are napping together in the same room and have been doing so for over an hour now. That Ferber guy is pretty smart. lol As my mom told me, the kids will learn how to sleep in the same room together. They just won't know differently and will learn how to get rest even when the other isn't quiet. I only worry now that once Noah can crawl and walk, I'm going to have two crazy kids egging each other on to climb and play at naptime. lol :)

    And I love the new header. I stink at stuff like that (and Brian has every program under the sun for photos from his basketball coaching days), so I'm pretty impressed. :)

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  9. I'm thinking Christmas already too. We just figured out that we'd be spending Christmas Day at my parents' this year. I agree 100% about keeping it simple. Christmases growing up were always a living room flooded with presents, even though we always considered ourselves "poorer" than our classmates. Which shows how ignorant and bratty we really were. I like what you said about setting the precedent. I think we made a mistake with Anthony's first year by "just seeing what happened and go from there" and not being clear about what exactly is and is not an acceptable level of presents. I'm thinking I might have to make a list of things and say, "Pick ONE." The alternative is I just give the excess away. Which I have done. I really like the idea of a gift of TIME e.g. doing a special outing together rather than STUFF. I will try to sell that idea this year.

    Katie Rose's gift will be her quilt. Anthony I don't know yet. All he really wants is choo-choos, but he has so much already!

    If we had a TV, I think I would be watching the midwives while waiting for the new season of Downton Abbey!

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    1. When I talked about keeping it simple, I meant in terms of what we personally (i.e. Santa) give the kids. But it sounds like you go on to discuss the dreaded "grandparent problem". Ugh. We've finally gotten Tom's parents and my dad mostly under control. My mother, though, is ridiculous.

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  10. I read someone's Christmas jingle for what they buy their kids. I plan to use it when we have kids. Santa brings something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.

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  11. Thanks for sharing the new show! I'm loving it. We are hoping to do something similar with Christmas gifts {I'd also like to keep it to three} but I am worried about the whole grandparent issue. Our parents keep mentioning big items that we really don't need or more importantly just don't have room for. I am hoping I can get them, at least this year, to mostly pick out clothes for her, something we could definitely use.

    P.S. Have you thought about using a free photo editor, like Picasa?!

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    1. Thanks for the idea, Caitlin - I am downloading it now! I hope I'm able to figure out how to do more of the things I want with it :-)

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