Cotton-Pickin’ Days

Finally, after pledging several months ago to regain my sanity and start stitching again, I’ve done it. This is the progress I’ve made on the teapot cross stitch I started in 2004.

Some earlier pics of my progress from June, October, and November 2004.

I’d really like to get this one done so I can start on the Amanda Loverseed Cut Thru’ Rocket.

By the way, Jean has been stitching too and even started her own online store - Needle Little Love. She has some gorgeous designs that I haven’t seen elsewhere. I especially like the Tournicoton patterns .

And so the stitching madness begins again….

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Marv brought home a Nintendo Wii for us last week. Stephen and I have played Wii Sports and Mario Party for about 30-45 minutes every day. It’s a great way for us to have some fun together at home (we have more than just video games to enjoy, of course!) especially since the weather in London has been so rainy this summer. Fortunately, it’s sunny today so we’re definitely headed out!

Here are the top 10 things Stephen has learned from playing Wii video games:

1. How to take turns
2. How to be patient
3. How to be a good winner, and NOT a sore loser
4. How to follow directions
5. How to control his body - both gross and fine motor movements
6. How to add up the scores
7. How to strategize
8. How to make decisions quickly
9. How to translate an idea into something concrete. Check out the LEGO model he made of Mario Party!
   

   From Stephen’s Toy…

10. When to call it quits!

OK, so he’s going to be five years old in less than two weeks but he’s still technically four!

What have you learned from video games?

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Darn it. Which two did I miss?!

And double darn it. mdmhvonpa is smarter than I am! Well, I guess that was pretty obvious.

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Original Cottontimer:

Reading online is nothing like reading a book or a magazine. When I read a book, I take my time, read almost every word, and re-read parts that I didn’t quite understand the first time. When I read online, however, I tend to skim so rapidly that I often miss key bits of information.

12-Year-Old AOLer:

R3ADNG ONLIEN SI NOTHNG LIEK READNG A BOK OR A MAGAZIEN!!!1!! WTF LOL WHEN I RAAD A BOK I TAEK MAH TIEM R3AD ALMOST EVERY WORD AND RE-R3AD PARTS TAHT I DIDN’T QUIET UNDERSTAND TEH FIRST TIEM!11!!!!!! LOL WHEN I RAAD ONLIEN HOWAVER I TEND 2 SKIM SO RAPIDLEY TAHT I OFT3N MIS KAY BITS OF INFORMATION!!!1!!1! OMG WTF

via The AOLer Translator

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Singapore Airlines is our favorite airline in the whole world and we’re big fans of eBay and PayPal too. (Not hard to guess why but in the interest of preserving some fragment of my family’s anonymity, I won’t go into too much detail. )

Singapore Airlines, the first carrier in the world to fly the new superjumbo Airbus A380, will auction all seats on its inaugural flight on eBay and donate the proceeds to charities.

ExxonMobil Aviation will donate the fuel for the flights while EBay will subsidize the fees and charges from the auction of the seats. PayPal, a global leader in online payment solutions, will rebate a portion of its fees and charges, the statement said.

The proceeds of the auction will be split among three charities: one-third to the Singapore Community Chest; one-third shared equally by the Sydney Children’s Hospital and The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney; one-third to Doctors Without Borders, an international group.

The first flight is expected to take place in October 2007 and the auction will begin a few weeks before then. If you’re on the first flight, you’ll receive a personalized ceremonial certificate. Good luck!

Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

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A couple of weekends ago, I came up with Dogma for Children #294 and made this sign as a reminder for Stephen: “I will do what you say Right Away.” Within a few hours of putting the sign up, he had embellished it with a smiley face because he felt satisfied with his own performance. And by the following day, he had added to the signage with a picture of a Transformer and some nonsensical sign that he can’t even translate himself. Most importantly, the saying “I will do what you say Right Away” has become a mantra.

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Despite a busy weekend reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I made this dinner last night - tonkatsu (using Lilian’s recipe) with aka miso sauce, tender stem broccoli, and steamed short-grain rice. See! I can cook. The question is: will I?

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What are you getting me for Parents’ Day ? (See pic for hint.) Oh, you didn’t know there was such a “day of commemoration”? Look what you’ve been missing!

As decreed by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, every fourth Sunday of every July is Parents’ Day.

The establishment of Parents’ Day was the result of a bipartisan, multiracial and interfaith coalition of religious, civic and elected leaders who recognized the need to promote responsible parenting in our society and to uplift ideal parental role models, especially for our nation’s children.

The National Parents’ Day Council does not envision Parents’ Day to be yet “another” day to honor parents, but rather a day when parents honor their children and the God-centered family ideal by rededicating themselves to manifest the highest standard of unconditional true love.

Oops. We are not religious. Does that mean I don’t get a present?!

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clipped from www.thestar.com A freelance reporter for a Beijing television station has been detained for faking a hidden camera report about street vendors who used chemical-soaked cardboard to fill meat buns, local media said Thursday. The paper said that in mid-June, Zi brought meat, flour, cardboard and other ingredients to a downtown Beijing neighborhood and had four people make the buns for him while he filmed the process. The report said Zi “gave them the idea” of mincing softened cardboard and adding it to the buns.

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Don’t look back.

So hard to do especially when it comes to books. I need to tattoo Amazon on my arm to remind myself never to buy a book from an actual bookstore.

This morning, I finally went to Hatchards, “booksellers since 1797″ and “booksellers to the Royal Household.” (Nobody looking remotely like Royalty was in the store at the same time as me although the clerk had a posh prep school air and there were a few businessmen wandering about.) I’ve never bothered before because it didn’t look like the type of place that would welcome children. Knowing that books are almost always cheaper at Amazon, I would have been happy to buy a canvas bag or a bookmark emblazoned with HATCHARDS but they had none of that.

Imagine that! A bookstore that only sells books.

I was determined to get my shopper’s experience, though, and picked up The Rough Guide to Genes & Cloning as well as The Changing Face of China: From Mao to Market at full price. Not content to say I’d been, I could not resist double checking the prices when I got home. And of course, the books are both selling at Amazon.co.uk for about 30% less than cover price.

AHHHH!!!! Why oh why do I never learn?

At least I got two free paper bookmarks out of the deal but do you think they’re worth £7?!

*By the way, Hatchards is owned by retail giant Waterstone’s. Yet another reason why Hatchards is really nothing more than a name.

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