I have a small (but growing) collection of “Americana” stuff. I always said “no” to having a country bumpkin home but as I get older I appreciate the handmade quality of things like quilts and knick knacks, so I’m accumulating more and more. I have a few small figures, a lamp and some flags that are patriotic - but I’m always on the hunt for more. Thanks to Etsy (how I adore Etsy) I came across a super adorably shoppe called “Jenny’s Bake Shoppe” and on it I found THE most adorable patriotic 4×4 sign that I simply must have for my collection!

It features patriotic cupcakes (I love them!) and red gingham and a blue jean looking border. It’s a-freaking-dorable!! It’s $19.00 and signed, sealed and delivered for $4.00 shipping. I want it. I will be buying it. Bask in it’s glory:

Seriously cute right? I saw it first!!! Oh, Jenny has a blog here also. It’s full of teh cute too.

It’s pretty obvious that I have baby fever; I mean, how many times have I mentioned babies on either blog? Err, just the other day? Well, walking through stores and such I’ve noticed some way cool color pairings for crib bedding. I mean, pink & brown, baby blue & brown, light “neon” greens, black …. It’s so modern and so chic and SO not the pepto bismol pink of baby animals of old.

When I decorated Xander’s room for his “baby” phase I did John Lennon Musical Parade which is now (and had been) discontinued. I bought it on ebay. The set is unisex more or less and has cute (but not bleh-cute) animals on it. The colors are NOT pastel and I love it! I’m just not into pastels I guess. For the next baby I’m sure I will do one of the brown and another color pairings. I’m sure if the next one is a girl I might have to do some brown and pink shabby chic look. Although black and pink rocker chic is way sweet also.

So what is your favorite way to decorate a baby’s room? Are you into colors or a theme?

So … I bought a new camera yesterday. I settled on going “cheap” and stuck with what I know - the Sony Cyber-shot. I picked up the DSC-S730 (which is really just a way newer model than the one I’ve had for almost 6 years now). It has way more options and takes great shots. I can mess with settings and even the iso with this camera which makes me happy. Issue I am having right now is that I am trying to follow this tutorial for getting rid of the red eye in a photo of my son and dog. They BOTH got the red eye! Grr! So, my brain just isn’t understanding said tutorial …

I am also fighting with my son (ahh! three year olds!), watching the Backyardigans (sigh), reading Harry Potter fan-fiction and checking out home gyms. How’s THAT for multi-tasking?!

I’ve got two messages sitting in my inbox from different book sellers telling me some super cool news: JK Rowlings’ “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” is now available for pre-order! The book(s) will be available on December 4th - but you can pre-order either from Amazon.

The hardcover “standard” edition of Beedle the Bard is slated at costing $7.59 or you can get the gorgeous Collectors Edition (price listed at $100.00) which has a reproduction of J.K. Rowling’s handwritten introduction; 10 illustrations not featured in the Standard Edition or the original; metal skull, corners, and clasp; velvet bag embroidered with J.K. Rowling’s signature; replica gemstones; and tucked inside a case disguised as a wizarding textbook from the Hogwarts library. This amazing collectors edition will be printed in limited supply - according to Bloomsbury and various other press releases the print limit will be 100,000 copies.

Net proceeds from the Collector’s Edition and the Standard Edition support the Children’s High Level Group.

Where was “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” referenced in the Harry Potter books? Read below - but a warning .. the passage contains spoilers.

SPOILER ALERT:
Containing clues that were to prove crucial to Harry Potter’s final mission to destroy Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes, The Tales of Beedle the Bard is the volume of five wizarding fairy tales left to Hermione Granger by Albus Dumbledore in the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Only one – The Tale of the Three Brothers – is recounted in the book. In The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the four remaining stories are revealed for the very first time.

File this under “I Learn Something New Each Day” and leave it at that! Okay, so, you hear the word “Halliburton” and what do you think? Iraq war controversy (war profiteering and charging $28 for a paper plate)? Close ties with Dick Chaney? A giant toxic cloud in New Mexico? What else? Luggage? No? Yeah, me either … But, apparently sometime in the 1930’s a guy named (what else) Erle P. Halliburton decided he wanted some kick-ass travel luggage and thus, Zero Halliburton was born. They have a laptop case that looks like it could survive a nuclear holocaust, and in turn, survive one of my hubby’s various (and often) “business trips.” In fact, why not pack up your laptop into one of these babies and deploy to Iraq? Kinda like a “come full circle” thing?

But seriously, I think one of these awesome suitcases would be great for my husband. He kicks the crap out of his bags. Just not the pink one, I grabbed a photo of that one because *I* liked it!

One of the things on my agenda for tomorrow now (as kindly reminded to me by my dear sweet hubby) is to make an eye appointment! My poor current glasses are literally super glued together in several places; I love them, but it’s time for a new pair. My current pair was purchased at my (Jacksonville) eye doctor and the total cost (lenses and frames) was around $85 – lower end, no name plastic glasses with no frills (yeah, I go for the “emo sexy librarian” look). I want to spend less please, since obviously I cannot keep a pair of glasses together (well, my KID likes to break them!) … so, yeah …

Fox News (on there “Deal or Dud” section) featured a company called ZenniOptical.com (click here to watch the video of Zenni on Fox). The mom on the bit was ordering glasses online for two of her kids and; which happy with the prices, was only happy with one of the pairs of glasses ordered – for the older child. The younger child (around 3 years I would say) had issues with his glasses such as wrong fit and wrong pupil to pupil measurements (he was being wiggly as the mom was trying to take the measurements). So, while Zenni Optical is a great deal – be wary about purchasing from them for younger children. For older kids and adults Zenni Optical is an AWESOME DEAL. We’re talking glasses for as low as $8 (you will also find glasses for $15 and $29). Zenni cuts the cost by making their own frames and shipping them out to the consumer. I personally have not yet tried the company; but I actually plan on trying them out with my next pair of glasses.

Some women have a “thing” for shoes … I have a “thing” for bags. They don’t have to be expensive either (in fact, I haven’t really seen a “name brand” bag that I would consider buying!). I just like bags …. regular bags, tote bags, diaper bags, golf bags … Okay, maybe NOT golf bags, but you get the idea. The NEX (Exchange … military shopping store) has a good selection of bags (especially those “name brand” ones) so the past few I’ve bought there. I don’t currently have an everyday diaper bag because Xander’s 3 years old and I only really need to carry around a couple diapers, a small wipes case and a couple toys. I will need one in a few months though and you can bet I’ve got a couple in mind! My current “purse” is a nice black and silver fake-leather one with plenty of room. It’s a kindof “boho” style I think. It only cost $25 and I’ve had it for a couple years now. I have a few others that I switch to every so often including an “America” one with vintage pics of the ‘States and I also have the “Sailor Kissing” bag which is a small one. I usually bring that along when I don’t have the kiddo and I only have my wallet and phone.

My very favorite (but I’m a little biased) is a booty bag made from my hubby’s camo uniform. I made it

Less than a week left until Valentine’s Day. I’ve never been a HUGE Valentine’s fan to be perfectly honest. I mean, even when I had a boyfriend growing up I was still pretty anti-V’Day. My hubby and I always joke and call it “VD-Day” and I usually end up wearing black or something equally not red or pink. Last year my husband was deployed and I wore a shirt that said “Missing My Sailor” and “Deployments Suck” in fact. This year, while he’s not going to be deployed – he will be away from me serving his country. Just for a few days though; a few days that include Valentine’s Day.

I’m expecting flowers – only because he knows I love to get flowers. I like roses, but I’m super cheap so anything pretty and assorted is wonderful in my book. He usually uses 1-800-Flowers to send them, so I’d assume he will do that same again this year.

1800flowers.com has a HUGE assortment of bouquets and even organic fruit gifts for your schweetheart – or yourself! They have good prices to and believe me; their flowers are fresh and last for days and days. Plus, from all the flowers I’ve gotten I’ve assembled a nice vase collection; their vases are too cute.

I personally like these (NO! That’s NOT a hint Alan!):

My husband’s old laptop has seriously seen better days. The poor thing is rigged together and doesn’t currently charge the battery. Right now, it’s being used as a desk top computer for our (just shy of) 3 years old for his kiddy games. It has a keyboard, mouse and monitor hooked to it so that he doesn’t have to mess with the laptop itself.

At some point I would like to fix it a little better – hubby can do it, he’s my “local computer guru” but he just hasn’t messed with laptops yet. There is just something in there not connected correctly I think. Then, since the battery I have is well over 4 years old I will need to buy a new one. I am not sure what kind of battery it needs. The laptop is an HP/Compaq “Frankenstein”. Lord knows I know nothing about that sorta stuff.

Speaking of which, I found this site called AllBatts.com that sells every type of battery you could ever dream of! Seriously! I saw phone batteries, ibm laptop batteries, camera batteries, and tons more. Be sure to check them out if you are in need of some battery replacement. Because, you know they do die after awhile; and no amount of recharging is gonna bring ‘em back!

If you bought a laptop then make sure that you have all the necessary computer software installed in it. The most important software is antivirus firewall software. It protects the computer from viruses which can enter and can harm the computer. One can install live chat software like msn, yahoo in order to remain in contact with friends and relatives. There different types of software scripts available for different purposes. Many schools and university use mathematics software for learning and teaching math.

I just moved to Virginia and already noticed the fashion differences between here and Florida. I feel like I am back in Spain again! The boots (over the jeans of course), the heels, the scarves and sweaters! It’s winter in the city baby! I picked up a paid of super cute Ugg-wannabe boots over at Wet Seal (pic to the left). I’ve never really lived in a place where I could wear such furry boots, lol. I’m a Florida girl you know! While checking out the Dec ‘07/Jan ‘08 People Style I saw a whole page devoted to “winter wear” for under $100 (my boots didn’t make the list). They are all super cute, just not $20! They also had cute sweaters pictured (I really want an Eskimo-type jacket with a furry hood!!) I loved the one I saw at American Eagle yesterday while I was shopping. HM also had a beautiful pea-coat style one which was only $69. The AE one made the list in People also - it’s $79.50. I gotta give kudos to the awesome Swedish style snow hats with the pom-poms attached! I tried several on in the store only to be laughed at by my husband. He doesn’t share the same hat love I do. My friend, Tascha tried on a couple cute hats also, and took “My Space” style pics … wonder if she’s posted them yet, lol.

One trend I don’t get is the slipper style booties. Can you wear them outside? Weird. Also, Ugg has has sheepskin flip flops. WTH?