Bird and Little Bird

A Bit of Book Exchange Help.

 

Greetings from the land of sudden and surprising sub-freezing temperatures!  Apparently, this impending winter business is not just a rumor.  Anyhow, I've had a few emails regarding the book exchange in the last week or two, and it would seem that a number of books have either not been sent to begin with or, have been lost in the mail.  A particular quirk of this round of the exchange seems to be some kind of problem with international mail; most of the missing books that appear to have been legitimately sent on time were sent between the U.K. and the U.S. 

So, I could use a bit of help. This hasn't ever happened to this extent in the past, and I really don't like the idea of there being kids out there who worked hard on books to send out to their exchange partners and then received nothing in return.  Because who likes checking the mailbox and not finding what you are so, so hoping will be there?  No one.  In the past, Mariam has always been willing to make an extra book or two to cover shortages like these, but honestly, Dan's crazy schedule at the hospital is taking its toll on us all and I can barely get her to do her school work these days, let alone anything else that isn't her idea to start with.  If anyone has a child who is willing to make an extra handmade book to send to one of the kids who hasn't received one, I'd be forever grateful.  And, if you don't have them all already, I'd happily let you choose an issue of Alphabet Glue in return for the favor.  Here's what I need:

- a book for a nine year old in the U.K.

- a book for a five year old in the U.S.

- a book for an eight year old in the U.S.

- a book for a seven year old in the U.K.

- a book for a twelve year old in the U.S.

If you are willing and able to help out, just send me an email at [email protected] and I'll get you all the information that you need.  Thanks in advance!

One Step Closer.

You know how sometimes the best way to get something done is to do it while feeling like you are really, really supposed to be doing something else?  Such is the way with the quilt.  For some reason, the fact that I need to write a semi-enormous paper about my local library and its collection of cookbooks has me feeling like quilting is the most important and logical use of my time.  Well, I suppose there is also the element of having reached the thirty week mark in my pregnancy and feeling like it is time to start doing something to get ready.  The small fry is going to be sharing a room with Dan and me, so part of the preparation process is a somewhat major overhaul of bedroom decor.  I'm trying to convince Annie 2.0 to help me repaint this weekend, and we've already ordered the small amount of "nursery" type furniture that we think will be useful enough to justify the space it is going to take up in our not-so-spacious bedroom. 

So, the quilt.  I really want it to be finished sooner rather than later, and laying the pieced rows out on the bed today to make sure that they look like they actually belong together gets me one step closer.  I didn't actually lay out the individual triangles before piecing them; I couldn't seem to find enough cat-free time and space to do that.  Instead, I made piles of the different triangles and then put together rows by pulling from each pile in a different order so that ideally, each row would be slightly different.  Of course, it wasn't a perfect system, so there was some adjusting to be done with the rows themselves once they were stitched, but in all, I still think it was much faster to do it this way.  Also, I was less confused, which counts for quite a bit.

Now, there is a lot of pressing and sewing in my immediate future.  After cookbook cataloging, that is. 

Library Monday: Pumpkin Picture Books.

 

October is many things, most of them very, very good.  Here in Vermont the leaves change and fall, the days are often crisp and cool but still a little sunny too and of course, it is the month of pumpkins.  I'm not entirely sure what exactly it is about pumpkins that is so wonderful, but I suspect that we can all agree that pumpkins are something quite special. What other vegetable do you know that makes small children squeal with delight?  (And yes, I do understand that pumpkins are technically a fruit).  Broccoli is all well and good, but it doesn't get nearly the love around my house that a nice, round pumpkin does.  So, for you on Library Monday, a few favorite pumpkin-centric picture books.

 

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? is a particularly good book about pumpkins, math and the oft-cited truism that good things can come in smaller than expected packages.

 

I used The Pumpkin Circle quite a bit back in the days when I taught a lot of garden and outdoor education.  It provides a nice overview of the plant life cycle with the added benefit of being about pumpkins, which as we've already established, is a good thing.

 

Gail Gibbons.  Need I say more?

 

From Seed to Pumpkin is a non-fiction title from the Let's Read and Find Out Science Series. I'm not sure how many of you are already fans of this series of books, but they are seriously great.  We have a lot of the Stage 2 books, which are slightly more involved, but to date, we haven't read one of these books from either of the levels that we didn't thoroughly enjoy. They manage to achieve the delicate balance between being simple enough for small people to understand while also being detailed enough to satisfy scientific curiousity. 

 

Oh, and it looks like Tanya is the winner of the BIG Kids Magazine giveaway.  Your copy of the magazine was in my mailbox when I arrived home this afternoon, Tanya, so I'll be in touch via email about a mailing address!

The Mug Mystery.

So here's something a little curious...

About a month ago, Dan and I were emptying the dishwasher when one of the two of us suddenly noticed that all the coffee/tea mugs we expected to find inside were indeed, not there at all.  Since they weren't in the cupboard that morning when we needed them, we assumed that they must be in the dishwasher.  But, they weren't.  Actually, for that matter, they weren't anywhere.  They had apparently disappeared.  Basically overnight. 

I know what you're thinking and yes, at first I too assumed that Dan was unintentionally hiding them in his messy office.  He is in a glorious phase of medical school where 27 hour hospital shifts are common and he doesn't spend all that much time sleeping even on the days when they aren't.  Three or four hours here or there.  So it stood to reason that because he is generally too tired to know what on earth is going on around him, he might very well have forgotten a bunch of tea mugs that he had used in the middle of the night and not put back in the kitchen.  Nope.  A thorough office search uncovered only one mug, leaving the tally of still missing mugs at four.  Well, we think it's four.  It might actually be one or two more that that.  Super weird, no?

Many weeks later, we still haven't found them.  There were thoughts that maybe they were put away in the wrong place or that there was some other sensible explaination, but considering that they haven't yet turned up, I am doubtful.  So, it remains a mystery, the whereabouts of the missing mugs. 

I'm starting to suspect the cat.