I'm not sure how they come up with this....

Your Pilgrim Name Is

Patience Cooke

What's Your Pilgrim Name?

The Other Boleyn Girl

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this movie. I'm sure I'll be dragging E to it while it is still in theaters. Not like our usual wait until it comes out on DVD. He'll be doing the same with me for the new Indiana Jones movie, so I feel all is fair. Of course that depends when the baby arrives, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind going to see it twice.

Now of course there is the concern about liking a book so much and being disappointed in the movie (which has happened with a few Harry Potter movies of late). But I'm going in hopeful and with an open mind.


I read the book quite a while ago, loved it, and have since read all of Philippa Gregory's books on the Tudors. Next up will be the Wideaacre trilogy, which I just haven't picked up yet. I'm thinking it may be time for a library trip (I'm trying to do the library thing now instead of buying books - we have so many that are still in boxes in the basement waiting for shelving - but that's another project - Amazon anyone?).   Wideacre should hold me over until the next book comes out this year.

I am looking forward to Ms. Gregory's next book as well, this quote is taken from her website.

"Philippa's next book will be released in 2008.
The Other Queen is about Mary Queen of Scots during her long imprisonment in England. She lived with Bess of Hardwick and her husband the Earl of Shrewsbury.
Philippa tells Mary's story from a new perspective and reveals much about the England of Elizabeth."

I highly recommend any and all of her books to anyone who may be interested in the England of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Be warned though, the books could cause a bit of an obsession!

Animal Phone

Found this on one of my favorite sites - Cute Overload. I'd say it's pretty cute and a very creative idea!

Mr. Men

I recently rediscovered these great little books and was reminded of the cartoon series.  The video above is the intro song but there are a ton more on YouTube and evidently they are on Cartoon Network too.  Check out the Mr. Men (and Little Miss) website!

I used to love these teeny books when I was little and hadn't seen them in years.  Not too long ago I rediscovered them at the bookstore.  I'm thinking they will be gracing the shelves of the baby's room in the very near future!  

And just how productive was I?

I was incredibly productive!!!  I almost can't believe it myself but I actually got over 40 pages done!  Though when I say "done" they aren't completely finished.  Most still need titles and journalling, but the layouts are done with photos and papers.  One of these days in the near future I'll finish them all up and embellish a little bit on the ones that need it.  Boy, it really does pay to be organized and have a plan.  Even with having to leave the SDV for a few hours on Saturday to do a demo at Michaels I still got a ton accomplished.

Tuesday afternoon I decided to do a bit of rearranging of furniture in the basement scrap / craft area.  Mainly that meant moving this shelving unit that holds my stamp sets from one wall in the basement to another.  

Unfortunately I won't be doing much crafting or scrapping until mid-week next week.  At the moment this is the view from my craft table.  

When I moved the shelving unit, I uncovered an area of mold growing up the wall.  Luckily the house is still under warranty for mold and water intrusion so the builder is taking care of everything.  Yesterday was an interesting day - doctor appointment in the morning,  catching the cats and locking them in our bedroom, then working with a plumber, the mold remediation guys and then the carpet guy (easy issue with the carpet - an HVAC register was covered by carpet and I found it when painting the living room - that only took twenty minutes to remedy).  Unfortunately the plumber couldn't find the leak so he left,  the wall was completely opened and twenty minutes later the mold guys found the leak.  At that point the plumber was on his way to Jackson - an hour and a half north of here - so he came back late in the afternoon, took care of the leak and the mold guys finished up their day's worth of work.  

The huge dehumidifier is working around the clock in the containment area and the basement smells slightly of bleach, I imagine it's whatever chemical they use to get rid of all the mold - maybe it really is bleach.  The cats are now denied any access to the basement until it's all done,  we expect it to be complete by this Wednesday.  I'm also denying myself access to the basement except for quick trips down to put things away or bring things up, since I don't know what the chemicals are and don't want to be breathing them in any more than I have to.  I have a swap to finish (probably my last swap for a very long time except for a card swap I was convinced to join that is due in March) but that is going to have to wait until everything is done.  Instead I'll be spending the time I'm stuck in the house with the workers finally organizing and finishing up my office so it is usable and my businesses can get off the ground.  Blu Tatstu is evolving, more on that to come in the near future.  Calais Photography is in the works and both will hopefully make it so I don't have to go back to working outside the house - except for teaching Wilton - after the baby comes.  

Prep Work

Crunch time! This week is going to be a busy one! I am scheduled to start four cake classes this week, I have a blood test on Wednesday and between today and Thursday evening I have packing / organizing / planning to do for my scrapbook weekend in Absecon! Mom and I are headed to the Absecon SDV this weekend, our fifth year in a row. I've vowed to be productive this year and find that when I go with a plan I am super productive! So this morning has been a whirlwind of importing photos, burning CD's and printing contact sheet pages for the entire year of 2007. I had to change three ink cartridges, lol! Luckily I have done some scrapping of certain events from last year, but not much. So this afternoon will be spent reviewing the contact sheets, marking them up and planning out what pictures will be printed. Tomorrow and Wednesday, I plan to work with my sketch book and print pictures to go along with sketches and match them up with page kits. Oh and all that is in between cleaning up from yesterday's Super Bowl party and running out to do some errands and possible teach two classes. Phew!