Friday, April 27, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday (Take 55)


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David and I (Lucia too!) are participating in a walk for a local pro-life pregnancy center, Pregnancy Support Services of Wake Forest, tomorrow.  Our goal was to raise $100, but we’ve only raised $15 so far.  If you are able to spare anything, you can donate at our participant page.  The minimum donation amount on the form is $25, but you can fill in your own amount.  Even $5 is very appreciated and will make a difference in the lives of men, women, and babies in my community.

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One way I tried to raise money for the walk was through advertisements on my blog.  Only one sponsor took me up on the offer, Sweet Joyful Creations.  (If you are interested, there is still time to email me!)  Sweet Joyful Creations is a business run by Jessica, a work-at-home mom (WAHM) who makes custom car seat canopies.  If you know someone with a young baby or an expectant mama, these truly make wonderful gifts!  (Jessica is currently giving away a car seat canopy to one of my readers. Enter the Sweet Joyful Creations giveaway here.)  If you are in the market for a baby gift, please use Sweet Joyful Creations because by advertising through me, Jessica is supporting life.  Don’t you just love when a business supports causes in your community that are important to you?

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As long as the weather is nice, David and I try to take Lucia on a walk every afternoon.  David surprised me a few days ago by putting Lucia in the “big girl” part of the stroller instead of snapping her car seat into it.  She still looks tiny in it, but it is a reminder that my baby girl really is growing up.

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My first day as a substitute was great!  Although it didn’t go exactly as planned.  I had accepted the perfect position for Wednesday.  It was only a half day in the morning, which I loved since I was nervous and wanted to ease into it.  It was subbing in a high school social studies class, which is the content area of my degree.  Of course, I received a call at 11 pm the night before saying the sub position had been cancelled.  But when I got up Wednesday morning, I searched for positions and found an afternoon position in an elementary school for English as a Second Language (ESL).  As luck would have it, I have an endorsement in ESL.  I don’t have a lot of experience with elementary school kids, but it went really well (and the kindergartners were SO cute!).  I’m teaching again today too!

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Have you ever found the perfect gift?  My (future) sister-in-law is planning a “rustic chic” wedding and I have been looking for a bridal shower gift for her.  Yesterday, out of the blue, I come across these wooden photoboards from PhotoBarn.  They fit her style (and the wedding theme) perfectly!  It takes several weeks to get one, but that’s fine since I figured she would want to use a wedding picture anyway (I talked to her and she does!).  Finding the gift  isn’t even the best part.  Normally we wouldn’t be able to afford to get it for her, but I found a deal to get $115 worth from PhotoBarn for only $33.75!  I don’t usually write posts about amazing deals I find (and I find quite a few) but I just had to share because this seriously is a wonderful unique gift for a bride, a baby (they have photo blocks), or a mom (Mother’s day is coming, hint hint!).

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If you’ve read the Hunger Games, I’d love to know what you thought about them.  One of David’s labmates loaned us the books and I’m a little nervous to start them.  I have a lot of things to do in the next week and it’s not the time to get sucked into a book series.  When I was in college, I picked up the Twilight books during finals week.  Let me just say I finished all four books within 72 hours and finished the semester on very little sleep.

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I’m planning (hoping) to make a few homemade cards in the next week.  I’d like to make a bridal shower card, mother’s day cards, maybe a graduation card or two.  If you’ve seen any examples or tutorials, I’d love if you would send them my way.  I do much better when I have some inspiration than when I wing it.


For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

11 comments:

  1. Ha! I picked up Harry Potter during finals one time. Big mistake! I've only read the first one so far, but it was a super fast and easy read. I enjoyed it, and look forward to the next one as soon as I can find someone to borrow it from. I am glad that subbing went well!

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  2. Catholic Cookie JarApril 27, 2012 at 5:51 AM

    I'm so glad your first day of subbing went so well!  The Hunger Games are definitely books you will get sucked into! They are really, really good, and I wasn't able to put them down! 

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  3. Congrats on a good first time subbing!

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  4. Yes, the Hunger Games trilogy will totally suck you in! I had to keep myself from getting the 2nd and 3rd books from the library until my thesis was done. Katniss is a better heroine than Bella for sure. The series raises a lot of moral/ethical questions about war and violence, so there is also some food for thought there. 

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  5. I seem to be in the minority that thinks that the Hunger Games were rather cliche' and not terribly well written. I actually found them so boring and predictable that I couldn't finish the series. But then, I hated Twilight too. 

    Lucia's stripey pants are so cute! She looks like a big girl sitting in her stroller. I am trying to reconcile myself to the fact that my 12 week old can sit up in his Bumbo. He is still supposed to be a newborn!

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  6. I'm so glad your first day of subbing went well! Yay for you! And I too want to start making more cards...they are just more special than a store bought card. If I find any tutorials I'll send them your way! I used to make some out of scrapbook paper and stamps, but they weren't very impressive.

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  7. You probably shouldn't start the Hunger Games series until you have a bit of time.  You will probably want to read them all back to back.  I thought they were well written and very suspenseful but what I liked most about them was that they were "clean" - no sex, no swearing.  It was quite refreshing...if a book about young people fighting to the death can be refreshing :)

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  8. I need to get on this making my own cards band wagon too. Today I went to CVS b/c I had a coupon for a cards I couldn't find a card less than $3!! 

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  9.  Yeah, and when you make them, they just mean so much more!

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  10.  That's what I was afraid of.  I have a trip coming up next week, so I'll wait until then and bring them along.

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  11.  I really liked Twilight, but I'll be the first one to admit that those books aren't the height of literature.  They were just fun.

    We just recently got a Bumbo for Lucia, but unfortunately it seems like it might have been a little late because she's getting ready to sit up all on her own. 

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