Friday, February 27, 2009

Perhaps of interest to you...

Winkflash is having a flat rate sale on their photo books until March 5th. That means that whereas you usually get a 20 page book and then pay extra for every additional page right now you can order a book with up to 100 pages for the same price as a 20 page book. I've never ordered from them, but I just spent about 5 hours turning my blog into a photo book. With my 100 pages, I made it from when I started in July 2005 all the way until March 2008 and included all the text and photos from my blog. (Posts were few and far between when I started so the first year was quick to cover.)

Beware...you choose the size book you want right at the beginning and I discovered that if you try to go back to choose a different color for your cover it will reset the size of your book to an 8 x 10. So if you go back to the cover choice page to make any changes MAKE SURE you click on the correct size again even if you did nothing to change the size from what you originally chose. Make sense? This will save you much ranting and raving. (I would have appreciated knowing this before I finished the entire book and discovered that what I thought was formatted as 12x12 was actually all formatted as 8x10...frustration!)

I did the 12 x 12 book with a window cover and including shipping it came to $40. You can also do the 8x10 or 8x8 size books with basic (no window) covers and they will be considerably cheaper than $40. They have a lot less templates and backgrounds than Shutterfly, but I just stuck with a basic background color and made do with the image templates. If the quality is decent, then $40 for a 100 page hard back book is an amazing deal! (I used Shutterfly to make a book at Christmas time...I think it came to 65 or so pages and I had a $30 credit and after the credit it came out to about $120.)
You can find the sale on their homepage -- use coupon code "HELPUSAVE."

Just FYI.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is my first Valentine's Day of the post-school era. So you know...if there's anything that you want, if there's anything I can do, just call on me and I'll send it along, with love from me to you. Except if it involves going to the post office. I really stink at getting to the post office.



Will's thoughts on Valentine's Day:

(After decorating a valentine's box to hold the dozens of valentine's he gave himself...I think I need to expand his social circle.) Will: "Mom! This is going to be the best Valentine's Day EVER!"

It is easy to maintain low standards when you don't remember the previous year.

Will: Mom? What does this say?
Mom: It says "be mine."
Will: What does be mine mean? Hey.... Mom?! I BE YOURS!

Monday, February 09, 2009

25 ExTrA special AWESOME things about MiChAeL

This post brought to you by the Freedom of Information Act.

1. Michael walks on his toes...all the time. This can be a sign of autism.
2. Michael won the school spelling bee and went to state. He got out on the word corduroy.
3. At some point Michael became Mikey...to everyone besides his family to whom he is still almost always "Michael" (occasionally "Mike").
4. Michael was class president.
5. Michael did not receive stellar grades throughout most of high school because he already knew how to do everything so what was the point of "proving it" by doing homework? That is the working theory anyways.
6. When told that he could use a programmable calculator on his calculus test, Michael programmed in the formulas so that all he had to do was fill in values and the calculator would solve. The calculus teacher now makes everyone program their calculator this way.
7. As an intern at Aetna, Michael created a program that did his job for him. Effectively putting himself, and interns around the country, out of a job.
8. Michael's favorite insult for at least a decade was "butthead." It also made an appearance this Christmas.
9. Michael made me an award commemorating the first time I used the toilet.
10. Michael could read at the age of 3. [Erin could read at the age of...umm...9? maybe?]
11. Michael's incentive for becoming potty trained was getting to see Sesame Street Live.
12. Michael watched Jurassic Park at least 2 dozen times the year it came out...and bought the sound track.
13. Michael has also been known to throw up at his own birthday party...and after eating peanut butter and chocolate combinations.
14. Unlike Megan who apparently eats oatmeal at dawn, Michael does nothing at dawn...except perhaps go to bed.
15. Michael played percussion in high school marching band.
16. Michael was in several plays during his high school years...including a musical. YES folks, a MUSICAL...in which he SANG.
17. Michael has a Magic card collection...unless he sold them at some point. They are probably still in Mom and Dad's attic.
18. Michael is horrible at bowling. Except that one year when we went on our annual Christmas bowling trip and he said he'd "been practicing."
19. Michael has survived for decades on Coke and fast food.
20. Michael was disappointed that he didn't win a certain award when he graduated from college...and then later saw his name on a plaque and discovered that he did win it...but no one told him.
21. Erin could write some more interesting random facts here, but Michael might come "kick my butt"-- a favorite threat.
22. Michael can play music by knocking on his head with his mouth open.
23. Michael has a freckle on the sole of his foot.
24. Michael is afraid of needles and dogs. [He'll try to deny the dog thing...but we all know it is true...fear breeds hatred Michael...and Mom says you got knocked down by the neighbor's big sheep dog as a little kid...fear stems from traumatic childhood incidents.]
25. Michael is the oldest of six kids. He is 3 1/2 years older than his coolest sister and 10 years older than his youngest siblings. Michael was a Christmas baby so he always gets joint birthday and Christmas gifts. Michael created a high school newspaper and pretty much made it himself every month. Michael turned the big 3-0 this past December. Michael is an INFP (like me)...we are both in careers which are supposedly extremely unappealing to our personality type. Shall I keep going..?

You never know when or where 25 Things will find you. Beware of...well just beware.

Monday, February 02, 2009

"25 Things" is more contagious than the cold I currently have

25 Things:
1. As a kid I took, at one point or another, lessons in ice skating, tennis, horse back riding, cartoon drawing (ok that was a 1-day workshop), swimming, ballet, jazz, tap dance, saxophone, piano, and voice. All of these lessons led to...absolutely nothing.
2. I'm the only kid in my family to have broken a bone (siblings can correct me if I'm wrong). I broke my collar bone while doing the bunny hop.
3. I was born with a mild case of this: pectus excavatum; had one of these removed from my jaw, but it grew back: osteoblastoma; and my first child was born via emergency c-section because of this: prolapsed cord. Too much information? Yes indeed. I think I should win some kind of medical lottery prize.
4. I'm an attorney...but I can't officially call myself that...because my license is on inactive status due to my stay-at-home status...but we won't get into that.
5. I'm trained as a divorce mediator.
6. I have made over 50 citizen's arrests.
7. I won the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen award in high school. Prize? DAR Good Citizen lapel pin.
8. I won the Cromwell Grange poster contest in middle school. Prize? $1
9. I won the Yale Book Prize in high school. Prize? A book (hence the name I suppose)
10. In 8th grade my class went to Washington D.C. One of the busses didn't show up in the morning because, after dropping us off at our hotel the night before, the driver picked up a hooker who then hijacked and stripped the bus.
11. I threw up on every major holiday until I was about 12...at which point I apparently stopped getting nauseatingly excited for holidays.
12. I am a graduate of the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy.
13. I can play the spoons.
14. I still have never looked at any of my law school grades. They let me graduate so I must not have failed.
15. I have angel food cake with strawberries every year for my birthday.
16. I had never lived anywhere besides 2 Shanley Ct, Cromwell CT until I left for college.
17. I was once the employee manager of a Subway.
18. I grew up 35 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and I DO NOT do seafood. At all.
19. My eyesight is so bad that without contacts I will not recognize you until you are within 3 feet of me.
20. I love cherry cake donuts...but I've never seen them anywhere besides Dunkin Donuts. In Utah I make do with Dunford chocolate donuts.
21. My husband and I have opposite tastes in ...well...everything. Including spouses. That's why I got him and he got me.
22. I eat some kind of treat almost every night after my boys are asleep. Because if I eat it while they're awake I would have to share. Now I know why my siblings and I used to find empty donut boxes and ice cream cartons in the garbage when we woke up in the morning.
23. I'm an INFP.
24. I can't remember the last time I went to bed before midnight.
25. My dream home would have a multi-story library with a rolling ladder. Sigh.