Brock star for a day

Brock got to be in the paper. His dad and I both work there, so it was really more just luck. They needed a cute little guy to illustrate a parenting story and thought of Brock. The section editor kept thanking us, and we're like, "Shouldn't we be thanking you?" This is totally awesome!

What's even better is that the title is, "Raising the Perfect Child." I mean, could've been a story about dealing with nightmarish toddlers or something, right?

Sage is one of the Albuquerque Journal's magazines -- an occasional insert designed for women printed up on lovely glossy. The story didn't feature him or us. He was just the "photo illustration." But there was a little blurb about him on the story inside:

Mark and I also wrote a little blog on our parenting philosophies for the website. You can find that here.

Here are some pictures from the photoshoot. These photos are courtesy Morgan Petroski/Albuquerque Journal.

Also exciting was when they decided to do some billboard ads with him.

Digital image of billboard

Actual billboard

OK, was that obnoxious enough for you? Sorry to be such a braggart, how often does your kiddo get to do something like this and be on a billboard? So, thanks for putting up with me!

Don't smell until the timing is correct. Seriously, just don't.

My husband likes smells. Like good smells. He buys lots of air freshener, shoe spray, cologne (like dozens of them), candles, etc.

A while back, he bought some really expensive air freshener while on vacation. It came in a tiny glass bottle and cost like $1,000. It smelled just like Endust. Yeah, the dusting spray. It's awful. Nothing you can try to cover with it could smell worse than this stuff. If you just took a dump, light a match, but don't spray Endust, right? Incidentally, the bottles say, "Do Not use on polished/painted surfaces." I suppose many people must mistake it for dusting spray.

So recently he decided to write the company and tell them that he thought the products may have spoiled on the shelf.
Here was his message:

From: Mark **** <((redacted email address))>
Subject: product disappointment
To: ((redacted email address))
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 4:07 AM


Hi,                        

April 3, 2012 I purchased two bottles of your air conditioners a couple of months ago at the **** in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, there wasn't a test bottle, so I hadn't tried either. But I figured they would have a nice spa-scent, and at $48 a bottle, I figured they would be exquisite quality. I have more than 40 colognes, a number of air fresheners and I'm quite a spa aficionado, but the products just didn't go over well at my home for either my wife or I, or my office. I thought it was just too strong of  a scent for us, but have since tried to give them away to various couples, but they had the same negative reaction. I really think they might have been on the shelf too long. The scents are: - Archangel Uriel - Hilarion Any way, I was just wondering if there is any way to ship them to you and have them replaced for something else? If you notice they have gone bad, you could send the same ones (although that would be my last choice). But I would really like to try something else. As you'll see, both bottles are nearly full. If you can help me, I'd really appreciate it. If not, I understand. Please let me know. Thank You Mark Smith ((contact info redacted))

Pretty diplomatic, right?
Well, this was the reply.

From: Debbie Blake <((email redacted))>
Subject: Re: product disappointment
To: "Mark *****" <((email redacted))>
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2012, 8:53 AM

Hello Mark,

Thank you for contacting me.  Unfortunately I can not take the products back and give you a replacement.  The **** in Las Vegas has closed there doors for some time now.  But what I would like to do is give you a little insight into the product and how you might understand the energetics that are going on with them and yourself.  I have a web site up if you would like to look into this a little more.  www.northamerica-aurasoma.com

First Archangel Uriel.  The colors are gold on the top and royal blue on bottom.  The Equilibrium bottle is B097 http://www.northamerica-aurasoma.com//product_info.php?products_id=459  Also the product of the month is Archangel Uriel http://www.northamerica-aurasoma.com/information.php?info_id=31

Over the years of being a teacher and practitioner of Aura-Soma I have seen students not be ready for a product there fore they have a negative reaction to it.  What that tells me the timing is not correct and there is other work to address first. Once this is recognize and address the negative reaction leaves and the student is open to these energies.  The gold of Archangel Uriel is talking about Universal Wisdom coming through the intuitive senses of your body.  There could be a real resistance to becoming intuitive to your fullest being because of something that has happened in the past.  Please check out the home page of my site to have a greater understanding of what I am talking about.

The Hilarion Air Conditioner is a truth seeker.http://www.northamerica-aurasoma.com//product_info.php?cPath=35_48&products_id=143  It is also B053 http://www.northamerica-aurasoma.com//product_info.php?cPath=35_48&products_id=143

This energy is asking us to look into the deepest areas of our heart and recognize the trapped emotional blocks that we are holding onto.  Once they are released we open ourselves to move into a new direction.

I know this is allot of information and if you would like a consultation to have a greater understanding please feel free to contact me and we can set up an appointment. 

I send my very best and wish you an insightful journey.

Much love and light,

Debbie

Debbie Blake

North America Aura-Soma LLC

((contact info redacted)

So, let's get this straight. We thought their ridiculously over-priced products stunk (literally) and rather than apologize or replace them, they blame us for not being emotionally prepared for their air freshener? I love this quote: "There could be a real resistance to becoming intuitive to your fullest being because of something that has happened in the past."

I never realized that one must complete counseling and perhaps graduate from some scent academy in order to find an air freshener pleasant. It's weird because Lysol never gave a shit if I took classes.

This is where Mark gets Marky. He's not a guy who likes to take crap from people, or waste money. (The red part is my emphasis on hilarity.)

From: Mark **** <((email info redacted))>
Subject: Re: product disappointment
To: "Debbie Blake" <((email info redacted))>
Date: Sunday, April 8, 2012, 3:59 AM

Deb,
First of all, the **** has not closed down.
Secondly, you are a teacher?
Of what?
Misspellings and bad grammar?
You obviously know that your products suck, and now I know it wasn't simply a bad bottle.

So here's what you do teach: spray a couple of bottles of that garbage up your schnoz, run free and naked in your new-age full-of-crap factory -- then jump into a pool of reality.

I'll be sure to tell the directors of the **** you are spreading the word about them being closed.

Mark

Oh my God. I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. Gotta love those middle-of-the-night emails. Needless to say, we haven't yet signed up for consultations on insightfulness. And we still think the air fresheners smell like cleaning chemicals. 

But upon reading the website she referred to, I learned some important things, like this:

"I have found that when you ask the appropriate questions the bottles will reveal your comprehensive sequence to unlocking a more evolved you."

 Magic bottles!

"Your unconscious does not understand the language of color. Aura-Soma can show you what needs addressing so you can move forward in a language the unconscious does not understand. Color is the KEY to unlocking the unconscious. Once the resistance is removed. You can receive your divine gifts that are yours and it can bring more joy, bliss, pleasure, peace and abundance into your life." 

All that from a magic bottle! A stinky one at that!

Then I found that the Archangel Uriel scent has more powers! (Again, red is my emphasis, this time on oddness):

"It helps to support the growth towards clarity of intuitive perception, to use awareness with compassion, with warmth. It may awaken awareness of fear and confusion, or the tendency to intellectualization, to empower the mind more then the intuitive faculties."

No wonder we're running scared of these products!

All my flaws, explained

I recently came across a really interesting post. I found it quite by accident. It was all about the development of the mouth/jaw/palate and how it relates to the way you breathe, or vice-versa really.

Part 1
Part 2

This may not sound really interesting to you. You probably have a normal mouth. With normal teeth. You probably didn't have eight years of orthodontic work, speech therapy and five oral surgeries of various types.

I have. And that's why I thought this was really neat stuff.

This is a mold of my teeth in 4th grade:

That was biting down. I couldn't even eat normally. I would bite off pieces of sandwiches with my molars.

Fast forward to now, and I've got decent enough teeth. I mean, if you're not looking hard, and we're just talking and what-not, I look fine. But the reality is that I still have a pretty darn big overbite and I'm really self-conscious about that. My teeth are healthy and everything, but despite all those years of work, they are far from perfect. When the years of torture drew to a close, I was told that my bite was not perfect, but it was as good as it would get with braces. I was told that if I wanted to achieve something better, I'd have to have my jaw broken and reset. I thought, "Well, they're good enough for me!" And I still feel that way if the alternative is a broken jaw wired shut.

But trust me, I'm self-conscious a lot. I feel like a beaver. I've been told that I just have a tiny jaw. But nobody ever explained WHY.

So that brings us to the point of this post: the blog I came across the other day. To sum it up, how you breathe (mouth or nose) as a baby/small child determines how your whole face looks. Why? Well, if you breathe through your nose, like you should, you close your mouth and it forms a seal. Your tongue goes to the roof of your mouth a bit of a ways behind your teeth and spreads out, which in turn spreads your palate.

On the other hand, if you breathe through your mouth all of the time, you don't have that spreading effect and end up with a narrow jaw -- but not just that. It affects the development of the entire middle part of your face. And you can end up with an overbite, weak chin and protruding nose.

People this totally describes me. And you probably are imagining I look a bit like this:

And, well, I kinda used to. See this post for more on that and what I really look like.

But I'm not that bad. Not really. I just think it is fascinating that all the things I've always sorta disliked about my face are entirely due to the way I breathed when I was little. I don't know for a fact that I breathed through my mouth, but I'd bet money. It's like the chicken and the egg: Do I find myself keeping my mouth a bit open because of the overbite, or do I have the overbite because I didn't keep my mouth closed? I don't really know. But please don't call me a "mouth breather." My dad already says we have hillbilly blood, and I just don't need that.

Watch out, ladies

He's been working out.

(and yeah, this is an exact replica of a Facebook post. Because I lack creativity tonight.)

Working on something

A little project in progress. It's a gift. I am pretty sure this person doesn't know about my blog, but I'll still keep quiet for now.

Did you miss me? Oh, you didn't even notice I was gone?

So ... it's been a while. A really long while. I think about you often, all 3 of you who come to visit. But I keep telling myself I will wait till I have something interesting to say. But I never do. Isn't that sad?

Or I'll think of something semi-amusing but then realize that it's more Facebook status update material. And I think that the only people who bother to read this blog are probably friends of mine on FB anyway.

The more I hope for inspiration, the less it comes to me. I used to share creative projects, but I have absolutely no time for myself anymore. You know, work, 1-year-old, dirty house, husband. That's how it goes.

I still work at a newspaper 3 nights a week as a copy editor. I've been there 10 years. But I also work for Warehouse Fabrics Inc. doing a sewing blog. And then I started handling their social media. And then I started handling their monthly newsletter. And then I started handling their new inventory, posting it to their website. This is both thrilling and tedious because, on the one hand, I get to admire many beautiful fabrics, and that's almost better than sewing. It's like hanging out at a fabric store all day, and who doesn't love that? On the other hand, sometimes I feel a bit swamped and struggle to find time when Brock isn't whining and pulling on my arm to get up and follow him.

Last month there was a particularly huge amount of new fabrics and it took me weeks to finish. Now we are working on a temporary project to recategorize everything on the site for search purposes. I love me a good organizing project, so for that reason I like it. But, again, sometimes I stare at my kitchen floor and think about how it would be nice if my feet didn't stick to it and I didn't have to worry about my son picking up typhoid as he rolls his cars around on it.

I'm eternally grateful to Warehouse Fabrics Inc. for the opportunity to earn money from home doing stuff I really like -- sewing, working with fabrics, writing and computer stuff. It's fantastic. But I am definitely not finding the time to blog much over here. And, you know, I don't really care. I'm so totally lucky to have this gig.

On top of regular life, I was dragged into helping to plan my high school reunion. It's this summer, in July. July is kind of freaking me out.

First weekend: Stepsister's wedding/dad's birthday
Second weekend: Son's birthday
Third weekend: 3-day class reunion that I'm responsible for, in part.
Fourth weekend: 7th wedding anniversary

Phew!

I'm a little worried about how Brock will deal with the reunion weekend when we have to be out late. We could get a room at the hotel, but he refuses to sleep in a bed with us (there may be a baby-sitter on-site). As a matter of fact, he flat out refuses to sleep anywhere but his crib. Which is why we haven't traveled with him. I know that eventually he has to fall asleep, but by then, will we all be exhausted to the point of not having any fun? We don't have a baby-sitter, and my husband isn't very quick to trust a stranger in our house. We don't have any family members who would want to sleep at our house or stay there till 12:30 a.m.

The things I fret about for half a year, I tell you.

So that's my life. Busy. Kind of unexciting to everyone else, but really, really good.

I'll leave you with a slew of cutey-pie videos of the BrockMonster. Like you're going to watch them all, I know.

Locked in the Closet





Carousel Jabbering





Carousel Heaven





She's Not My Girlfriend!





Crazy Hair





No iPhone

Christmas

Yes, yes, we are all over Christmas, aren't we? It's Jan. 7, after all. But I haven't posted in a while and thought I'd better give you a very important update on what Brock got for Christmas so you can all stop holding your breath.

First up were these really cool talking dinos. They talk to each other!

This was the first gift he opened. I loved his reaction. First he's like, "What's this stupid box covered in paper?" Then we start tearing the paper off ...



Then there's the excited dino reax



And the dino used as vaccum




I got him an Alphaberry, which has lots of buttons with the letters of the alphabet on them and a small screen. It also reads the letters to him. He immediately thought it was his own cell phone and nearly had a heart attack.

He also got a tool bench, but he's not that interested in that. Like father, like son, I guess.

I later regretted not bothering to wash or style my hair because I look atrocious in most of the Christmas photos. I was too busy worrying about getting a turkey dinner on the table. This photo was the least offensive.

Brock's aunt and grandma got him a Cars big wheel. It doesn't even matter that he can't reach the pedals. It has an awesome dashboard that makes lots of noises, so just sitting on it is the bomb.

Christmas is immediately followed by Mark's birthday.

Mark's friend came over and his son and Brock were in serious agreement about something or another:



All in all a merry holiday season here.

Let's be serious

Normally, Additional Jesus is not the place for serious talk. Or good pictures. Even the ones I steal off the web suck. But today I have something to say. Some of it's my opinion, some is from experience. People will disagree, and that's OK. If you do, just be polite about it.

I'm a newspaper journalist, and I feel strongly about newspapers. Partially because it's my livelihood (and my husband's), but also because they have always meant something to me.

As most people probably know, newspapers are struggling immensely right now. They have been especially hard-hit in the recession because they are supported nearly entirely by advertising revenue. The measly 50 cents you pay for a copy is not really what keeps your local newspaper afloat. When businesses struggle, advertising drops, newspapers shrink and some of them go under. Our nation has lost many newspapers over the past few years.

Most newspapers have an online presence. Mine, the Albuquerque Journal, has long been a pay site. You get it free with your subscription, or you can pay for an online only subscription. We have been lambasted for that, but more and more newspapers are starting to use or consider a paywall for their content. Results have been mixed, admittedly.

People get up in arms over the idea of paying for news coverage. Why? Is there an obligation for news organizations to provide everything for free? If the print side (or TV side) is faring well, then maybe a paper can afford to subsidize a website. But articles like this one suggest the imminent death of print journalism and at the same time criticize the concept of expecting people to pay for the news online.

Newspapers are a business, folks. They can't provide quality reporting, writing, photography, design and editing without money. And while people are quick to dismiss journalists as biased, unless you've worked in a newsroom, you have no idea how much time is spent discussing fairness and balance. You have no idea how often stories are held so we can make sure every detail is right and that every side has a chance to comment. You also may not realize that one minute we're answering a phone call with someone screaming about how liberal we are, and the next caller is angry about how conservative we are.

Online advertising has not paid off for us. It doesn't bring the same kind of revenue as print advertisements.

So who will provide your news? There is always the TV network news with its 10 second coverage of stories. Or the 'round-the-clock cable networks. You're paying for that news, by the way, with your cable service, although those networks depend on advertising. The point being, you don't get cable news for free -- you have to pay for something.

Do you think you can rely on neighborhood bloggers to provide reliable journalism? I'm sure some/many have integrity, but who do they have to answer to? What is the true motivation behind a community activist running a blog? Can you trust that an effort has been made to be unbiased? And if they are providing "news" for free, how are they making a living? So they have a day job, and now you're relying on a local blogger who is just doing a bit of reporting for fun on the side. And this is how you want to get your information? Further, without any real clout, just how much can be accomplished? Government agencies and others figuratively (and perhaps literally) slam the door in journalists' faces all the time. If you don't have the clout, readership and financial backing to do something about it, what will you accomplish?

I'm certainly not saying that all bloggers lack integrity or seriousness, but I hate to see this as the new standard in news reporting. I don't think people are really thinking hard about what their local newspaper really does for them, whether they buy it or not. When the biggest newspaper in the state does in-depth investigative reporting, people get nervous. Unethical behaviors in government get revealed. Changes get made. People get prosecuted. Taxpayers stop getting ripped off, at least in that particular instance.

Do you think that a neighborhood blogger will have the clout to dig things up, get people to talk, open up a big case? Do they have laywers who can step in when government agencies illegally refuse to share public documents? What about when someone accused them of libel? Do you understand what will happen when you don't have newspapers to make things happen? Are you really going to rely on 25 second TV news reports to make people accountable?

On a human interest front, we have countless stories of people in desperate trouble getting much-needed aid from the community after being featured in the paper. Abused women who have fled with their children and are homeless, jobless and carless are gifted vehicles and other help. Babies dying of brain tumors (you can't see that if you're not a subscriber. Quit yer whining. That's my friend's baby) get much-needed financial help with medical bills. Decades old mysteries are unearthed and solved. These are all real stories from the Albuquerque Journal. People's lives have changed because of publicity.

If you're a looney or a drunk, who will you call in the middle of the night with weird, random questions if the newspaper isn't there anymore? If you're not a looney but can't figure out those crazy internets, who will you call to find out how to contact this place or that place? You'd have to learn to use a phone book. I'm joking here, but seriously, people call us when they can't get anywhere with the government or the police on a problem, and that opens up doors for them.

I know the younger generations take newspapers for granted, but I hope everyone will really stop to think what will happen if they go. They aren't all just going to turn into online publications and give you the news for free. Quality journalism costs money, and although journalists are used to living on peanuts, peanuts cost money, too. Sure, without printing, production costs will go down. But regardless of how things play out, expect to pay for your news if you want to get it from a quality institution, and don't expect it to be as comprehensive. Don't expect 60-inch investigative pieces; the staff left probably won't have time for those. Community news will pay the price.

Hey, ya'll. This blog is not typically a bummer. So please, go forth and have a Merry Christmas. Sometimes, maybe you could stop and pick up a newspaper. Smell the ink and enjoy the pages. Wrap up some ornaments in it after the holidays. Enjoy it while you can!

Christmas house of horrors

You know those houses in magazines or on everyone else's blogs that look really beautiful at Christmas time? Well, not our house. My husband's motto is "The tackier the better." But, it's not really his motto because he doesn't think it's tacky.

I wanted to share a few of my annoyances. First up is the bride and groom. Mark has a Christmas Village, which conveniently becomes a Winter Village after Christmas when it's February and I want him to take it down. "It's not a CHRISTMAS village. It's a WINTER village, so it can stay up through March."

One year, I wanted to be supportive of his love for gaudy holiday decor, and, really, the ChristmasWinter village isn't that bad, so I bought him this bride and groom. It was to represent us and our true love. And he quickly banished them from his village. BANISHED THEM!!! Why, you ask? Well, because they aren't wearing coats and it's winter, so that's TOTALLY UNREALISTIC.

Above, they are standing by the paper towels because Mark is allowing me to look at them but they can't go near the village.

My ass they can't.

But he has a point about the village being realistic. I mean, don't most places have gigantic pine cones that are the size of a cow?

Doesn't everyone eat gingerbread cookies half as big as their own bodies?

Aren't all of our doors half as tall as we are, or roughly the size of a gingerbread cookie? Aren't they? Aren't they?

So, yes, I do think the romantic couple have a place here. No they don't have coats because maybe they are going to take wedding photos and the bride couldn't find a cute furry stole to put over her gown. I have, of course, added the bride and groom to the village and we shall see how long it takes him to notice that I have ruined everything.

**UPDATE before I even posted!!! I went to take a picture of the lovebirds, because these pics have been sitting on my camera for a while. They are gone! Gone, people. I'm busted, and it almost feels even worse that he didn't say anything.**

So, now I'd like to talk about Evil Santa.

He's got the creepiest face, and I don't think Mark is particularly attached to him, but I'm scared of him. I'm genuinely frightened of him. I don't think you can get the vibes I get from him when you're just viewing on the computer. He's scary. He's Chuckylicious. He's going to murder me if I try to throw him away. He will keep reappearing in odd places after I put him in the trash bin outside. He will torment me and then he will kill me, so I just lovingly place him on the tree each year. Last year after Christmas, he ended up in a clear bin of ornaments, somehow facing out right where I could see him all year, just staring at me in the garage. *shudder*

"Nothing says Christmas like Muhammad Ali!" Those are the words I utter each Christmas as I pull out what is now my favorite ornament. But what is better than good ol' Cassius Clay on the tree?

Good ol' Cassius Clay in the ChristmasWinter village! Oh, Mark's gonna be pissed! It will be awesome.

So, just for fun, here are a few short videos of the more annoying Christmas decorations we've got around the house. Funny, my dad and stepmom can be thanked for most of these. Therefore, I have specifically banned any new annoying decorations this year. To which my stepmom replied, "But if Mark sees anything over here that he wants, I can't say no!" At which point I started discreetly yet desperately looking around their house for things I needed to stuff under a couch cushion.

If you want the full effect of this one, please turn up your speakers as loud as they will go.







I had another video, but it mysteriously disappeared.

One thing our decor DOES have going for it, though, is our beautiful 12 foot Christmas tree. Although it's a pain to set up, it IS pretty awesome. And one thing that I love about it is that all the ornaments are, for the most part, different. It's not one of those trees where all of the ornaments are, say, red and gold balls. The ornaments are wonderful because each one is a special little treasure, many with special memories to go with them.

It's hard to even get a picture of the whole tree because it's so tall. As the years have passed, the built-in lights have failed, but we just add our own. And the ornaments on the bottom are not so well-distributed because one wee elf takes them off and then they just get stuck back on wherever is convenient.

I have been sitting on this post for days because I just didn't have an ending. I still don't. But it's got to end anyway. Goodbye. And Merry Christmas.

Brock's quiet book

My friend Amy (Chickenbone Jones) emailed me one day with a link to a quiet book and said it looks like something I could make. I replied that there was no way I'd be spending my time on something like that.

Then, I made one.

A quiet book is a cloth book full of activities for small children. I should take a moment to apologize for my terrible photos. It's a part of reading the Additional Jesus blog. Sorry. Just is.

Brock loves animals, and he quickly learned the pig snort sound. He now makes that sound whenever he sees any kind of animal. Or families.

So I put a pig on the cover. One thing I should admit right now is that I was pretty gung-ho about this project at the outset, but I quickly lost interest. I was also going to applique his name on the front, but ...

The ellipses ... kinda how this project went ... starts off bold and then sorta peters off ...

By the way, as a copy editor, I insist that all ellipses consist of three, and no more than three, dots, and that there is a space on either side of them.

Open the cover, and this is the first page. I made my pages go all the way across and then attached them by putting them wrong-sides together and stitching with a zigzag stitch. Then I used pinking shears to trim them. Once I had my pages, I put them together and stitched down the center. That green in the middle at the bottom is part of the other side of that page, which makes up the last page. I didn't do a very good job of making sure it didn't extend past the center. Oops.

I initially planned to do this in a nicer fashion, but ... ellipsis again ...

This page has balloons. Brock loves balloons. I swear that one time he said balloon, even though he really doesn't say much of anything. These balloons snap on. I used that snap tape that you can buy by the yard and clipped off one at a time. I also added a present with a ribbon he can practice tying. Someday. Not now. Not even close. For the balloon ribbons, I used rickrack and ribbons, and I added a string of pom-poms at top for textile fun.

The bird is pretty simple. I just appliqued a circle on, adding the beak, legs and tail feathers as I got to those parts so that they would be caught inside the stitching. It held the feathers surprisingly well. I took another wad of feathers and sewed them on as a wing. Then I glued a googly eye on with hot glue.

The next page is a pond scene and a robot.

The water has little slits cut out for the puppets to slide into. They are $1 finger puppets I found at Michael's. I glued them to popsicle sticks to make them easier for little hands and keep them from falling out and getting lost. The grass and pond are made of felt and the trees at the top I found in the scrapbooking section at Michael's. The goose is a button.

The big robot is made of felt with little washer things I found in the garage attached here and there. I used wire to make a thingie for them to slide on, and although this might seem a little questionable, I put tons of wire in the back and wound and wound and wound it so that it can't come loose and the washers shouldn't be accessible. I sewed more washers on for eyes and buttons for decorations. The other robot I found at Hobby Lobby. He seems to prefer it to the one I worked really hard on.

The last page is a dinosaur and some grazing sheep.

The dinosaur is padded and has a zipper in his tummy. There are leaves hidden inside, an undigested treasure trove. I was initially going to put little people, but I decided to make him a vegetarian instead because I thought that might be a bit creepy. Plus, although I'm not so good at history, I'm pretty sure people didn't exist when dinos did. And this book is accurate if nothing.

The other side of the page has green felt for the grass, cut with pinking shears. The sheep are also made from felt, but I glued cotton balls on top for texture. I had a little white picket fence from Hobby Lobby that I was going to stitch on so he'd have something to open and close, but it just wasn't working out.

The sun and tree are also made of felt. I put farm animal buttons in the tree instead of fruit. Wouldn't it be fun if you could just go pick a piglet right out of a tree? What if it were ready to eat? Like you just take a bite and it is crispy bacon?

The back of the book is the pig's butt. For the little tail, I bought one of those foam visors at Hobby Lobby for $1. I cut the coil cord off and made a hole and stuck it through.

It was pretty labor intensive. And mine isn't even very good. If you plan to make a quiet book, I recommend using Pinterest to find lots of great ideas and planning your pages in advance. Then go to the craft store with a plan. But also be open to new ideas and keep your eyes peeled (yuck) for cool things you could add in. Also, this won't be as cheap as you're thinking. All those $1 items seem to add up.

Good luck!

Santy Claus

First I was all, "I gotta take Brock to see ol' Santy Claus!"
Then I found out how much it cost to get pictures with Santy Claus. Then I complained on Facebook, like anyone cared. But then someone sent me a link to a Groupon for $11. It was at the mall across town, but worth the savings.

Mark wants everyone to know that he spent a long time styling Brock's hair into a cute little feathered 'do. And even though that would normally not be considered stylish, it's super cute on Brock.

Unfortunately, you can't tell he has cute hair in this picture.

You could tell Santa definitely preferred hugging little Brocky over the horde of fat teens who followed him.

Bobbin organization heaven

These things are awesome! I found them on a blog where someone was selling them on etsy for a small fortune. But I found the same brand elsewhere for much, much cheaper. Just google and you can find them in bulk. They are called Handi-Bobs.

Basically, you snap the bobbin in, secure the end of the thread, if desired, and then snap the whole thing into the end of the thread that matches it. You always have neat bobbins and the bobbin and thread are kept together.