Geek in Heels - Page 68

Oct 31, 2011 • In Books, Funny, Geek, Home, Personal

The Great Pumpkin Massacre [à la Calvin and Hobbes]

Calvin and Hobbes is my all-time favorite comic strip, and I still count The Complete Calvin and Hobbes to be one of the best presents J has ever gifted me. I seriously can’t wait until our children are old enough to start enjoying these comics!

If you are also a fan of C&H, you are probably well-aware of Calvin’s creative (and oftentimes morbid) imagination being played out in the form of snowmen. Fans all over the U.S. re-create Calvin’s snowmen each winter, with snow sculptures, props, and productions becoming more and more elaborate with every snowstorm.

This Halloween, Elle of The Erratic Project Junkie has decided to mesh Calvin’s snowmen with this October holiday to create a pumpkin version of the winter meme. The results couldn’t have turned out better — wouldn’t you agree?

Via Reddit.

Happy Halloween!

Psst! I’m guest blogging over at She Likes Ruffles, He Likes Truffles today! Head on over and say hi! And be sure to check out rest of Katie’s blog, which is always filled with great anecdotes and eye candy in the way of food, fashion, and life in sunny Florida!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Seeing as I’m about to pop out a baby any second, we are not doing anything to celebrate this year. (We don’t even get any trick-or-treaters here!) To compensate, here’s a picture of Claire in her Princess Leia costume, taken 4 months ago:

Speaking of Claire, she has been acting differently for the past few days. While she has been a very good sleeper since she was about 7 months old, she has started to fight every nap and bedtime tooth and nail. She has started to wake up at least once a night and the only way we can get her to go back to sleep is by J cuddling with her in the rocker. (We have not seen this behavior since before we sleep-trained at 5 months.) She normally loves bathtime, but she has also started to cry every time we start the bath — and will usually continue to cry and resist through the bath — because she knows that baths are part of her bedtime routine.

Her ear infection cleared up within just a couple of days, and so did the rash, so we’re really not sure what is prompting the change in behavior. We’ve made a possible list of causes:

We had coddled her quite a bit while she was sick — did she get used to this treatment and now expects it?
She is going through a growth spurt. Contrary to what I had believed prior to becoming a mom, babies do not grow gradually but in spurts, and some of them can be quite painful on their bodies.
She knows that a big change is coming and is acting out as a result.

Can anyone think of any other possible explanations for her sudden change in sleeping habits?

Our 12-month checkup, which has been delayed an entire month, is later today so we will definitely be bringing this up to the pediatrician.

In BebeDeux news, I think I have started to have some minor contractions today. I know that it may still be a while before I go into full labor, so I am not too worried…just very, very uncomfortable because they feel like period cramps!

BebeDeux has also been moving a lot less today, and I have been pooping like crazy — sorry if TMI —which are both signs of impending labor, so D-Day (“D” for delivery) may be very near! So if you haven’t entered the baby pool yet, today may be the time to do it!

BebeDeux Baby Pool [Win a $60 Gift Certificate to Artisanal Premium Cheese!]

The BebeDeux Baby Pool is now closed. Congratulations to Kristin, who guessed 11/1/11, 9:00am, 6lb 3oz, 19.5″!

Tick, tock, tick, tock, the time is near! With just a few days left until my due date, I thought it would be fun to create a baby pool.

The best part? The winner — or the person whose guesses come closest to the actual date, time, weight, and length — will win a $60 gift certificate to Artisanal Premium Cheese! (Certificate expires 11/29/2011.) They are located in Manhattan, but offer overnight delivery within the United States. And you can read some great reviews about their cheeses and services via my friend Serena’s blog at Big Apple Nosh. 🙂

Entering the baby pool is easy: simply fill out the Google Docs form below!

[This poll is now closed.]

Some facts that may help out with your guesses:

BebeDeux’s due date is 11/3/2011
Claire was born 4 days before her due date, on 9/30/2010 at 9:35pm, weighing 6lbs 7oz, and measuring 19″ long.
My OB guesses that I will have “another 6-pounder” (but then again, doctors have been known to be off by as much as 2lbs!)
I have no idea how much I am currently dilated or effaced.

Good luck, and may the best guesser win!

The History of Rap, Part 3

If you’re in the middle of Snowtober 2011 like us, you’re probably taking it easy this Saturday night.

And if you’re looking for something to occupy yourself — even if for just a few minutes, I’ve got just the thing for you. 🙂

Presenting The History of Rap, Part 3, starring Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake!

And just in case you missed the first two…

Enjoy!

Snowtober 2011

This is the scene outside our window right now:

They say that we should be expecting up to 5 inches of snow tonight.

With just a few days to go until my due date, I am a tad bit worried, to say the least.

I know five women whose due dates were within a week of mine — three of whose due dates were after mine — and they have all given birth already.

I have also been getting a bunch of broken nails in the past couple of days. And I distinctively remember my nails becoming more brittle and fragile the week before giving birth to Claire last year. (Was this a sign of impending labor for any other ladies?)

There’s also the fact that practically all the major events in my life are accompanied by bad weather. (There were severe thunderstorms the day Claire was born too.) And looking at the 5-day forecast, I do not see any additional rain or snow headed our way.

I have also been craving spicy food like crazy…

Will BebeDeux be an October baby or a November baby? Anyone care to guess?

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark [Book Nostalgia]

With Halloween just around the corner, I recently developed a hankering for a scary book to re-read.

(Notice I said “re-read” — this is because my pregnant brain can’t handle anything new at the moment…doh!)

Sure, I could go for a classic like The Shining, or even my tried-and-true favorite horror novel, The Season of Passage. But I suddenly found myself waxing nostalgic for shorter, simpler tales from my childhood…

Enter The Scary Stories Trio.

If you grew up in the U.S. during the 80s and 90s as I have, there is a very good chance that these covers will bring back some memories.

There is also a very good chance that you were forbidden to read these books, as they were the most frequently challenged book for library banning from 1990-1999. (This fact comes as news to me. Did you know?)

The Scary Stories Trio consists of three books: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark; More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark; and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones. They are a collection of spooky folk tales and urband legends that author Alvin Schwartz has compiled for the younger crowd.

But perhaps the most memorable part of the Scary Stories Trio is not the stories themselves, but the fantastically grotesque and creepy illustrations that went along with them. Illustrator Stephen Gammell did one heckuva job carefully constructing each drawing to be completely horrifying and thoroughly memorable. For example, I have never been able to look at small hairless dogs the same way again after reading, and having the following image, burned into my mind:

And how about this lovely gem? I remember completely losing my sh*t the first time I turned the page to find this ghoul staring back at me:

Unfortunately, the heartless bastards over at HarperCollins have decided to re-print the Scary Stories Trio with the works of a new illustrator, Brett Helquist. I am sure that Mr. Helquist is a great illustrator, but do these covers even compare to the originals?

I have read that one of the reasons there was such a push to ban the original books was due to the terrifying drawings…so perhaps HarperCollins was trying to appeal to today’s bubble-wrap generation by re-printing the books with less frightening pictures?

I’m sorry, but that is a big fat epic FAIL in my opinion. Children are so much more resilient than we give them credit for. Sure, I may have been frightened by the original Scary Tales Trio, but that’s what made them so fun and memorable! And I would certainly not be opposed to my kids reading the same exact books in late elementary school, which is the age when I first became introduced to these books.

The good news is that there remain retailers who are still selling the original print of the Scary Tales Trio. Such as this seller who has available the boxed set, in new condition, for just $25. I have actually just bought the trilogy myself, because I don’t know what happened to my old, dog-eared copies of the books.

Do you remember the Scary Stories Trio from your childhood? Which were your favorite stories and illustrations?

Was the Scary Stories Trio banned from your school or library?

“My Wife’s Purse” [Or, The Black Hole That Is My Purse]

I know for a fact that this is exactly how J feels about my purse.

Via Fashionably Geek.

“The Hunger Games” Character Posters

I can’t, I can’t, I CAN’T WAIT for The Hunger Games to be released in theaters next March! I have read that Gary Ross, the director of the first film of the trilogy, is a big fan of the books and that he truly wants the movie to be just as good as the book, to have the viewers of the movie feel the same way they felt while watching the books. (Hopefully that means that there will be no big changes.)

I also believe the casting to be superb — I can really picture Jennifer Lawrence kicking butt as Katniss, and think that Elizabeth Banks playing the role of Effie and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch were excellent choices.

Today, 8 new character posters for the movie were released, making this fan even more excited for the movie and tempting me to read the books again.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss:

Elizabeth Banks as Effie:

Josh Hutcherson as Peeta:

Amandla Stenberg as Rue:

Liam Hemsworth as Gale:

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch:

Alexander Ludwig as Cato:

Lenny Kravitz as Cinna:

Anybody else as excited for The Hunger Games movie as I am? Are you Team Peeta or Team Gale? 😛

Via Geek Tyrant.

Safe Deposit Boxes: The New Savings Method?

A few weeks ago I looked into procuring a larger safe deposit box to store our valuables and important documents, and I had a heckuva time finding one!

All the bank branches within a 15-mile radius had waiting lists at least a year long. And the CitiBank in Chinatown where we had been guaranteed a free safe deposit box when we first opened our account just prior to getting married? The waiting list was a staggering 3 YEARS. 😯

I could only think of two possible reasons for the sudden decrease in safe deposit availabilities:

People are starting to become smarter about their valuables; or
With the unstable economy, people are less inclined to invest their money in intangibles such as stocks and more in material assets such as gold.

It came to me as no surprise then, to read that some banks are now starting to charge for deposits.

(image source)

Additionally, word around the Asian community is that many are renting safe deposit boxes to store cold, hard cash! While many banks have policies against storing cash in safe deposit boxes — not to mention the lack of any savings rate accural — keeping your Benjamins in safe deposit boxes ensures that your money stays under the radar of Uncle Sam’s watchful eyes.

Now, the 3-year-long waiting list for a safe deposit box in Chinatown is starting to make sense!

Has anyone else noticed the lack of available safe deposits as of late? Would you ever keep cash in a safe deposit box?