Dinner Party Leftovers

parmesean

gravy

lasagna

spinach ricotta

lasagna

spinach ricotta

lasagna

(recycled leftover components
from the vegetarian birthday party dinner)

Xmas Presents for an Almost Three-Year-Old

My friend and her little boy were in town for Xmas Eve,

so I went through my book collection and pulled out some of the best ones that I thought he'd like.

I didn't have wrapping paper--it's somewhere in our junk closet, maybe--

so I recycled the craft paper from our amazon.com purchases.

The goal was to spell his name and include a Xmas song lyric with the beginning of that name, 

plus a little drawing.

So . . .

Jingle bells = J

Hark the herald Angels sing = A

Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReinDeer = D

(I realized I spelled Rudolf as an alternative spelling when it was too late.

But then I realized that it didn't really matter.)

Have yourself a mErry little Christmas = E

(Nothing Xmassy begins with an E. Nothing.)

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! = N

There was an extra book, so I threw an exclamation point in.

Jaden read each letter perfectly--and got that it spelled his name, 

plus he identified most of my drawings too.

He's a genius!

I had planned on singing the Christmas songs too, 

but I really enjoyed watching him open the books, which he seemed to have liked.

Xmas success!

Happy 50th Birthday, Ma!

Today is my mom's 50th birthday.



We got her a scanner for pictures and negatives.



I took the Amazon paper stuffing and used it to wrap up the present, and since there were still a few feet of paper leftover, I rolled it up and made a bow out of it. (My mom made a awesome wrapping of my Dreamcast for my 21st birthday out of the newspaper's colorful comics section with a fanning bow. This doesn't top it, but I think it still looks cool.)



The card is made from the cardboard that usually comes with stamps when you order it from usps.com. I used my X-Acto to trace out a 5 and 0.

I left the 0 chunky enough to write out a happy birthday note. Usually, we sign it, "Love, Your bad kids," but we signed our names this year because it was a special birthday.

Hopefully, I look as good as she does when I'm fifty.