Well, Valentine's has come and gone yet again, and it's started me thinking. As Jason can attest to, I love an excuse to celebrate, and almost anything will do. I find these little events be it Groundhog's Day, Valentine's or whatever help to perk up the usual path of life. It adds a splash of colour to what otherwise might have been just a gray expanse of weeks going by.
After some years of my little "events" I have come to notice something: I am more fond of the little events I have created myself or with my family than some of the bona fide holidays scattered across my calender. Here's my top three:
1. Pi Day-more commonly known as March 14 (get it? It's 3.14). Celebrate by eating an abundance of pie.
2.The Frances Picnic- First, read all the Frances books by Russell Hoban to appreciate these great picturebooks. Then once it's warm enough in the spring, this marks the first real picnic of the year, with some of the delicious food mentioned in the Frances books of course. We like including fried chicken in ours.
3. Talk Like A Pirate Day- celebrated on September 17 (which, coincidentally is my due date). It's where you get in touch with your inner pirate. You can talk like one, and the munchkins and I choose to dress like one too! Find a bunch of good pirate books to read from the library, hold the skull and crossbones high, eat a good piratey dinner (no cutlery allowed) and "ARRRRRRR!" to your heart's content.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Books on a Budget
Despite Jason's protestations to the contrary, we really do need another bookshelf in this house. I am not one of those practical souls who contents myself with the perusal pleasures that the library affords: there are certain books that are worth owning your own copy of. As such, each book on our tightly crammed bookshelf is one we love and not one I am likely to relanquish.
This is problematic as I have become quite adept at finding books on a budget (a necessity during our years as students). It's almost a sport really, how good of a deal can you find on a book you badly want? Here's my standard venues:
The Chains-naturally they are used, if only because I love ordering their books for cheaper online and receiving packages in the mail. It is the most expensive option though so I don't use them often, usually used just for acquiring anything hot off the press.
The Independents- while seldom cheap,everyone needs a favourite one of these. Not only is it important to encourage variety when it comes to shopping, but I've found my favourite independent will find what I want, even if it is not in their catalogue. They're more prone to specialize too.
The Second Hands- Here is book hunting at it finest, because you never know what treasures you might find every time you go! Possibility and delight may await you on each shelf. These are the ones where you don't go in with expectations of what you want, but can simply enjoy the fun of browsing.
The Libabry Sales- Go with a fellow bibliophile to aid and abet you (like I did last weekend-thanks Eva!) and make an outing out of these! It's unbelievable what you can uncover admist all the books the library is hoping to clear off their own shelfves in the hopes that you'll take some to your own. It's hard to beat books for a dollar that are still in good condition, just be prepared to hunt more here than in anywhere else. Still, you can usually find a few treasures hiding among the tripe.
See what I mean? Having just accquired no less than fifteen new titles from my foray to the later venue this past weekend, I am quite out of space on my shelf, yet badly need a home for the latest accquisitions! Although a new shelf would be rather empty at first, knowing me, it would not stay empty for long.
This is problematic as I have become quite adept at finding books on a budget (a necessity during our years as students). It's almost a sport really, how good of a deal can you find on a book you badly want? Here's my standard venues:
The Chains-naturally they are used, if only because I love ordering their books for cheaper online and receiving packages in the mail. It is the most expensive option though so I don't use them often, usually used just for acquiring anything hot off the press.
The Independents- while seldom cheap,everyone needs a favourite one of these. Not only is it important to encourage variety when it comes to shopping, but I've found my favourite independent will find what I want, even if it is not in their catalogue. They're more prone to specialize too.
The Second Hands- Here is book hunting at it finest, because you never know what treasures you might find every time you go! Possibility and delight may await you on each shelf. These are the ones where you don't go in with expectations of what you want, but can simply enjoy the fun of browsing.
The Libabry Sales- Go with a fellow bibliophile to aid and abet you (like I did last weekend-thanks Eva!) and make an outing out of these! It's unbelievable what you can uncover admist all the books the library is hoping to clear off their own shelfves in the hopes that you'll take some to your own. It's hard to beat books for a dollar that are still in good condition, just be prepared to hunt more here than in anywhere else. Still, you can usually find a few treasures hiding among the tripe.
See what I mean? Having just accquired no less than fifteen new titles from my foray to the later venue this past weekend, I am quite out of space on my shelf, yet badly need a home for the latest accquisitions! Although a new shelf would be rather empty at first, knowing me, it would not stay empty for long.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Cookie Fever: The Grand Finale
I know that this post is long over due, but I simply had to share these pictures form when we made our very own gingerbread house in December (see "Cookie Fever, Part Two).
Ben was pretty enthusiatic about his gingerbread house-it was like a candy explosion!
Brigham spent most of his time working on quality control and sampling the candy instead of festooning it on his house.All in all, we had a grand time, and the boys are already begging me to do it again next year.
Ben was pretty enthusiatic about his gingerbread house-it was like a candy explosion!
Brigham spent most of his time working on quality control and sampling the candy instead of festooning it on his house.All in all, we had a grand time, and the boys are already begging me to do it again next year.
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