Cool News For Scrappers

It's been a really long time ... A lot has happened in the world ... Even more in our personal lfe ... But I just had to share this for any readers who scrap:

You know when people look at your scrap book pages and then comment on how they would "love a copy" of that photo that's been glued/adhered down?

Now at Archivers (check their website for your nearest location) you can get full sized 12 inch copies ... Yes you can get a copy of the entire page! You can even get it shrunk down to a smaller 8 inch size if you want to make a sort of "souvenir" album.

I called my local store and they said that copies start at $3.49 a sheet ... I would assume (but I could very well be wrong) that to shrink it might cost a tad more.

I can see where this would come in handy for weddings - one main album for the bride/groom, and copies for the parents and the people who stood up - maybe even the officiate if they are a personal friend ...

Maybe that favorite aunt who couldn't make it ...
One for each of the kids later in your life ...
Or grandiose ...

How about baby books? Make the main one for your family and copies for each set of grandparents ...
Ones for the Godparents ...

What about bridal/ baby showers? Same thing ... Main one for mom/dad/baby ... Some for the grandparents .... Maybe a book that not only has pictures of things like baby's sonogram but also photos of mom &dad as kids thru the years for comparison ... What a precious gift this would be! Just make copies of the parents baby pictures so that the grandparents can get their photos back ... Most grandparents will have them either loose, in some of those albums where the photos just slide in, or in one of those albums that had the tiny sticky dot pages ...

HINT: if you do have photos on those old photo books with the sticky dots,be very careful removing them ... after being there for 20-30 years we found that they will be PERMENATELY stck and maybe damaged while trying to remove them from the page.

Check at Archivers (sorry but they are the experts on this one) and see if they have a product to dissolve the glue without damaging the photos.

I mean I know there is something out there - it's like Goop-Off or lighter fluid ( BUT DON'T USE THOSE) but it's a liquid that comes in a nozzle bottle that you squeeze on and it will gently eat the glue but the photo has minimum damage to it.

Any how ...

Just wanted to share about the copies ...

I think it's a wonderful idea ... Even if it is expensive - you are probably only to need/want this type of service so price will be a smaller factor in the long run.

Things that make you go "HMMM"

This blows me away - and it really makes me sad, because I have a feeling that the story behind this is a lot sadder than they are letting on.

An 11 year old girl has given birth to a 5-lb baby girl .... yeah you read that right. she would have been just 10 yrs old when she got pregnant ... they say she had a 'boy friend' who got her pregnant.

Apparently they had a story I missed last week of a 9 year old in China who gave birth as well -- WHAT???

OMGs - my own daughter is this age ... I can NOT imagine her birthing a baby ... I have an 18yr daughter and I can't imagine her being able to have a baby .... a 10 yr old is simply NOT able to care for this child - but by the sounds of things she is going to have a strong family support system behind her.

geez -- is this evolution or a throw-back?

I mean when you think about it purely scientifically - this is an onset of nearly 4 yr earlier than just two generations ago ... I've heard of some 14 yr olds getting pregnant but never a 10 yr old.
So is this an indication that human bodies are changing to reflect evolution, or even just a indication of good nutrition/health care?

Or is it a throw back to those times when people didn't live as long so reproduction had to take place at a younger age to perpetuate the species?

Christmas traditions

Well as a Potter fan you probably have realized that Christmas plays a big part of the story ... it always seems like some great revelation happens over Christmas break (mirror/cloak, polyjuice, map, ball/egg, neville's parents/harry's visions, Harry stands up to the ministry, Godric's Hollow)

I have also gotten drawn into reading the online available pages from bn.com for Jean Shepherd's book "In God We Trust; all others pay cash" - if you have a bn.com acct you can read quite a few pages.

so what is all this about then? Well in jean shepherd's book he mentions that they celebrate/open gifts on christmas eve and he didn't know why -- I think I do. (okay its not a Potter related answer, or even topic).

We also celebrated on Christmas eve but still had big Christmas dinner the next day -- he mentions that he is from a small steel town in Indiana near the Illinios border, he mentions Pulaski's candy store -- celebrating Mother's Night/Christmas Eve is a very Polish Tradition.

While I haven't ran into any indication of it, I assume that his mother must have been of Polish decent or grew up with a strong Polish influence ... since family traditions seem more likely to come with the wife than the husband.

Part of Mother's Night though is the feast - usually consisting of 9 to 11 courses ... one of which is usually fish (herring in our house) ... since I am allergic to fish, mom decided to get around this little problem by laying a smorgosbord or buffet out for us to take what we wanted. Anything not eaten on Christmas Eve (like there was much left after the 6 boys got done) was put out as 'appetizers' for Christmas dinner to keep hungry hands out of the kitchen and away from mom's turkey gizzards ... we always tried our best to remain on our best behavior so Mom would ask us to share in her private gizzard feast in the kitchen.

I remember asking my mother once why we didn't open our gifts on Christmas like all the other kids ... I was a weird kid ... one year I even vowed that I was going to open just one gift on Christmas Eve and save the rest for Christmas morning.

Mom refused to be out-stubborned by an 8 yr old, decided I was going to get only one gift that year. A toy chest. That was it -- of course it came stuffed to the gills with Barbie & Dawn doll stuff. If you don't remember the Dawn Dolls (as I called them, don't know if they were called something else) they were about 5 inches tall and unlike Barbie, the main doll had dark hair like me ... the guys had rooted hair instead of the plastic formed hair of Ken ... and she had a really neat Winnibego with a roof that folded out and doubled as the awning for the camping loving dolls.

She even stuffed in there the Barbie Airplane -- okay it wasn't the whole plane, just a single seat of the cockpit for Ken and a couple of seats for Barbie's friends...it had a make believe galley for preparing food (hey, so do the modern airplanes!) and a place for Barbie to change from her stewardess' outfit to a snazzy, jazzy number for her date with pilot Ken -- although my Barbies always seem to prefer my brother's GI Joe's over Ken ... especially the Astronaut ones .... imagine that.

ding-dong ... off topic again ...

So while I did get to open only ONE present .... it was a present that out did anything my friends got that year!!!

Democratic Debate

Okay I've been focusing in & out of the debate tonight...mostly because it is mostly the same old thing---even had a heckler.

So the '100 Black men' group (don't get me started on that name) asked Obama what he woud do to encourage black men to stay in education.

I like his answer that it isn't JUST a black issue, that there is also a simular problem-if not worse-in the latino population.

BUT what I didn't like was the idea--and both the other candidates agreed--that pre-school is the answer to it all. NO ITS NOT!!! That is a stupid idea. Why not simply make kindergarten start at age 3 or 4 then instead of 5 or 6? Then the government will have to set some sort of standards for monitoring your child's progress.

And chances are if there is a working mom in the home that child is getting "early childhood education" any ways! The majority of inner-city kids have some sort of daycare...so unless the government is ready to say that one form of daycare is better than another they should keep their noses out of it.
There are some forms better than others...center daycares are not always better than homebased centers....montesorri is not always better than open daycares...I'm afraid that no matter what the government tries to do they will spark an education war that they don't want--it will be as bad as "church & state" in my opinion.
Its not that there is "competition" but everyone always thinks that they have the better system.
For instance I don't like the Montisorrie (sp?) program because the programs I have seen take much of the job that parents should be teaching....but on the other hand they do teach kids amazing math concepts that you would never think possible--like squaring numbers!
Can you imagine a 4 yr old understanding-not just knowing-what 10X10 is?? What about cubics? Yes they actually taught these kids cubics! I was so amazed...but its not for me.
While I could see doing some of it....a lot of it just didn't ring for me.
But the other issue is...who would qualify? would it be "at risk" kids based on income/race? If that's it we already have that thru the public schools. There is already the Head Start program...which is underfunded....but its there all the same.

The democrats seem to have a 'program' that will fix just about anything---but not the funding. You know what that means---the middle class will be taking home less income...but those at the bottom still won't qualify for the programs they are paying for.

sorry--truth hurts.

why can't they get this thru their heads??

San Jose Mercury News - 'Shrek' special too 'hip' to join holiday classics

there will NEVER be another "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or "Frosty the Snowman" or "Here Comes Santa Claus".....those days are gone....because that collective innocense is gone.

What makes these movies classics isn't the "cuteness" factor....its the recreation they produce of a more peaceful, innocent, child-like state of mind....

when you watch Rudolph....it could be in the middle of August and 100*F outside....it makes you want to curl up under a blanket with a cup of cocoa which is using a candy cane as a swizzle stick. And yes I do really do this.

The classic films will instantly bring back memories of childhood....the incredible amount of presents under the tree--which seemed to take forever to open {of course now as a parent, you can't believe how quickly all those gifts get torn open}....it brings back the smells of mom's cooking still lingering in the air....the crisp bite of winter air on your nose as you helped to hang the Christmas lights and decorate the yard....making a snowman with your brothers--well okay, my brother's wouldn't share their snowmen with me, I had to make my own little ones.....

its that sense of nostagia that has made them "Classics". Why won't the Shrek special become a "Classic"? Because families don't have big meals anymore on a regular basis.....people pay some company to come decorate their house....snowmen are considered "inappropriate"....snowball fights are considered assaults....and kids aren't allowed to play outside if the temp gets below freezing.

Does this mean that there will never be a classic again? Of course not---look how quickly movies like "A Christmas Story" and "The Santa Clause" have become standards....even the poor but funny "Home Alone " 1 & 2 are Neo-Classical. All have to deal with two things--the innocense of youth and the rediscovery of the Holiday Spirit in the innocent kids parent/s.

I love A Christmas Story--even though it is set before my time--I can relate to much of what Ralphy goes thru....I remember walking 7 blocks to school in the dead of winter and trying to find short cuts....having the same friends from birth to about 4th grade {that's when things changed here}...do most kids have this anymore?

All you have to do is listen to the radio, watch the ads on television or go into a grocery store these days and see the crumbling of the American household---we live in a world of catered holiday dinners, quick fix one dish meals, and Christmas-in-a-truck {okay I am guilty of a lot of this too, and I'm a SAHM}

It has nothing to do with how hip a movie is, how cool the effects are, or how much money is spent making it....it has to do with capturing the feeling of youth at the time-=-or catching the feeling of being a parent at the time-=-or reminding parents about what it was like to be a kid if even for just a single day a year.

THAT is what makes a Christmas Classic!