A little bit of this, little bit of that

Oops, it's been a while since my last post. We've been busy here at Chez Mamafitz, with school open houses/meet the teacher nights, soccer practices, cross country meets, gymnastics practices, art classes, library storytimes, and I finally got to see one of Caleb's soccer games last Sunday (they spanked the other team, 7-0!). My sewing machine power cord died, got a new one, been doing some alterations and patch sewing, and my oven died. New one is supposed to get installed on Tuesday (I so miss having an oven!).

Halloween costume sewing must commence soon (oh, and Christmas sewing). Caleb wants to be the Joker, and Calvin wants to be Zorro. Connor wants to be a doctor again, like last year, so that's one costume I don't have to make. Phew!

Weekend Storms

We got hit hard with storms this weekend. They started on Saturday afternoon, and continued through last night. We lost power for about 3-4 hours yesterday, and got a bit of water in our basement, though I was able to clean it up with just towels. So far we've had 9.12 inches of rain this month, with over 7 of it from just this weekend.

Sunday morning the rain came down so hard it was like being hit with a hose. The rain barrels couldn't handle the volume and speed of the water. This is the water that is just coming off of the garage!

Our neighbor kitty-corner from us had some tree limbs fall on their iron fence. I don't know if you can tell, but that half of the street there is under water.

Some trees were damaged in the park, and this one fell across the path down to the beach.

The beach looked like someone had hosed away a bunch of sand. Usually you can only see about 6 inches of that cement block that Connor is next to.

This is about 4 blocks north of me. This area got hit really hard with wind shear. Lots of trees uprooted and torn in this area.

Caleb's school is closed today due to wind and storm damage. It would be pretty hard for anybody to get through safely!

New Camera

I finally bought a new camera yesterday. For the past month, I've borrowed my mom's camera when needed (thanks mom!), but had to stop using that crutch. I came home with a Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS (I didn't pay as much, whoo!), and I really like it.

The boys and I had fun playing with it yesterday:
Caleb snapped this through the window, with the zoom.

He set it to take black and white photos. I like this one of Connor and me.

The camera has this cool panoramic setting. You take three photos, and the camera 'stitches' them together. When you take the first photo, the right side of the photo stays in the viewfinder, and you pan to the right until it matches your scene, then snap the 2nd photo. Same for the third, and viola! Three Calvins! :) We sure had fun playing with this one.

Now I'm going back to bed, as I spent most of the night coughing. I'm tired of the family being sick.

Lunar Eclipse Tomorrow Night

There is going to be a total lunar eclipse tomorrow night! It is supposed to be visible from South America, most of North America, and Western Europe and Asia, as well as Africa. Click HERE for more information with times, etc.

The viewing time is perfect for us, with totality happening around 9 pm. Last time, it happened around 5 am, and even though I got up, I couldn't see anything. Hopefully it will be clear tomorrow night!

Harry Potter

Friday night Caleb, Calvin, and I went to a Borders near us to get the final book. I hadn't planned on going (thinking to go on Saturday instead), but they wanted to go to the party. It was fun! We saw lots of people in costumes (there was a guy fantastically dressed as Mad Eye Moody. He should have won the costume contest, but Bellatrix Lestrange did instead). It was really crowded, but we got home at 12:45 am tired and happy with 2 copies of Book 7.

I've decided I'm re-reading the whole series before starting the last book. I hope it won't be too hard to stay away from any spoilers, and I should be able to blow through at least the first few books pretty quickly (I'm almost done with Book 1, started last night). Caleb is still finishing up Book 6.

We also went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. It was wonderful, though Caleb did comment on how much of the book had been cut (he just finished reading it last week).

Missing

You ever have one of those weeks (months?) that all of a sudden all these things need to be done, and you feel like you time warped ahead a few days and lost a bunch of time?

Yeah, it's been one of those weeks. :)

More Snow

We woke up to more snow this morning.
I had hoped to get a lot of sewing done this weekend, but only managed a Swing Bag and part of an In Town Bag. Connor was up Saturday night complaining about his ear, and my nose started dripping like a faucet yesterday. The pattern club meeting is tomorrow night, and I'd still like to make a Chelsea Tote and the Cabo Halter.

Once the snow stops I'll get out and shovel.

Soliciting Ideas

Two months from yesterday is my fifteenth wedding anniversary. I looked up an anniversary gifts table, and have found that the traditional gift is crystal, while the modern gift is watches. Usually David and I don't really do much of anything, maybe dinner out, but this year I want to do something special for him. I am stumped for ideas that would tie into either crystal or watches (wait, I could do something along the lines of 'time'. hmm....). Ideas anyone?

Finally!

It snowed overnight -- finally we have snow again!This is the view from the front living room window. The lake looks so gray, yet so pretty during snowfalls. No school today (MLK day), so the two older boys will be going sledding with a friend, while Connor and I take Sonja to the vet. We'll need to get her out to play in the snow too. :) I think I can get some sewing time in also.

The Inner Life of a Cell

I don't watch the news, but I guess on ABC last night or the night before they had this segment on a video made for biology lectures at Harvard. Dr. Lue, the Director of Life Sciences Education felt it would be a good way for undergrads to see how a cell works. It was so neat to watch, so we searched (love that Google!), and found a nice high res 3 minute version. Now, I had no idea just what I was watching (though it is really really cool), so I did some more searching and found this blog post with a quick play-by-play of what's shown. Granted, I'm still a bit lost with all the terminology, but it's still really cool. :D According to the company that created the video, this is the first in a planned series. I sure hope they make a 'for the masses' version -- I'd love to see more! (the music is good too -- reminds me of Rob D's Clubbed to Death Kurayamino Remix from The Matrix soundtrack. that sample doesn't give you much. the piano at the end is what i'm talking about.)

My lucky duck husband also got to see a bit of the northern lights last night! I guess there was a huge solar flare yesterday, and our neighbor came over and told him that he had to go down to the lake and see the lights. David bundled up Connor and went down and said it was really cool. I had already taken the older two boys to Cub Scouts. When we got home he told us about it and we all went to see, but they were gone. :( I would so dearly love to see the northern lights (those and the Southern -- as in hemisphere -- night sky). We did get to see Orion and Ursa Major very clearly, which was neat.

I hope to try again tonight.

Rowr!

We saw Casino Royale last night. Daniel Craig is absolutely yummy as Bond. The man has a fabulous body, but there's just something more about a delicious man in an impeccably tailored tuxedo (sans jacket), sitting in a shower. :)

btw -- if you haven't seen it yet, rent L4yer Cake for more Daniel Craig.

Computer Woes

Our computer is on the fritz -- it's not turning on. It's been a bit fussy for a while, and as of yesterday, we haven't been able to turn it on at all. I'll bring it in on Monday, and hopefully it won't be gone long. Right now I'm checking email at the library.

It IS kinda nice to be without it, though. Anyway, I've got to focus on making my nephew's christening gown, and no computer will get rid of the temptation to goof off. :)

Viva Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day (that's September 16). Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican victory over the French in Puebla. Go celebrate with a margarita (I prefer strawberry) today! :)