(Photo by Anne Geddes)
I am pleased to announce to all that my sister Abby and her husband Mike are expecting! Though it was supposed to be a secret for awhile it took my sister all of 5 minutes to spill the beans at this weekend’s get-together. They are excited, as are we all! This will be their first…if you don’t count their other two babies:
Moses and Motley
As a ‘congratulations’ to you both I offer you this:
The week before Easter my family (Mary, Tori and I) traveled to Nebraska and met Abby and Mike in our hometown to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. While there my mother wanted us to take back some of our childhood toys. In addition to some Hot Wheels in a case, some cool old books and well-worn Archie comics and my old wooden clock (that I was hit on the head with by my sister when she was a child, a painful memory that I never cease to remind her of), I had my old Johnny West and Black Bart dolls. My brother-in-law Mike proceeded to give me no end of grief about said dolls all weekend long. That Saturday night after all were in bed, I proceeded to set up a little display to entertain Mike the following morning. Whether or not I succeeded is open to debate but I certainly gave myself a case of the giggles that nearly killed me. Mike has been asking me when I was going to post about my dolls, so this is it. Happy, Mike? Here is what he found that morning:
The complete wrongness of this, including the presence of the chocolate pops, surely won’t be lost on any of you. I’m sorry.
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In addition to that addition I added a new edition to my library today:
From the Tolkien Library:
The Children of Húrin, due for worldwide release on Tuesday 17th April…was begun in 1918 and was one of three “Great Tales” J.R.R. Tolkien worked on throughout his life but which remained unpublished. Now Christopher Tolkien, the author’s son, has painstakingly edited together the complete work from his father’s many drafts, and it represents the culmination of a tireless thirty-year endeavour to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s vast body of unpublished work to a wide audience.
Considering how much I loved The Silmarillion it was almost a no-brainer to pick this one up. It became such when I got my email this morning and found out I could get it from Barnes and Noble with my membership for 46% off (that amounts to a cost of $14.04) AND it had illustrations by Alan Lee:
Again from the Tolkien Library:
The eight paintings, together with the dramatic front cover illustration… and 25 pencil sketches, have been a real labour of love for the artist. He says of his work, “It is always a privilege being asked to illustrate the work of such a distinguished and well-loved author. I had already worked on illustrations for editions of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings for HarperCollins so was familiar with the particular challenge of interpreting the characters and places unique to Tolkien. Illustrating The Children of Húrin was quite a responsibility but I hope that I have produced artwork that will successfully complement this wonderful tale for the reader.”
He has, the pencil illustrations and the color plates are beautiful. I look forward to reading it…someday. 😉
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As I mentioned in the previous post, I have added a link to my sidebar for the Once Upon a Time Challenge Review Site. I used the above modified image to do so. Here is a smaller version if you want to add a similar link to your site:
I can make other sizes for you if needed!
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Finally, I am regularly making additions to the Once Upon a Time Challenge and it thrills me to no end. As you can see on the side bar of the review site, there are many participant sites just waiting to be visited. On Thursday I’ll be adding the promised post about Endicott Studio. The end of that post will include the prizes (one winner, more than one prize to said winner) that I will be sending out for the next giveaway for the Once Upon a Time Challenge.
Because I want to play fair, however, I’m giving you a bit of a jump start on qualifying for that prize. Here’s how you get entered into the drawing:
There are currently 53 sites of participants in the challenge with links on the review site. I want you to go visit each one at least once and leave a comment (preferably something more insightful than ‘Hi! I was here’…and I can say that in good conscience because I’ve left those kind of comments before! LOL!). Then come back to the Endicott post (remember, that will come out on Thursday) and leave me a comment saying you have done so. The deadline to have visited all the sites is Wednesday, April 25th at midnight! This is on the honor system, I’m not going to be checking up on you. If you say you’ve done it, I’m taking your word. Dame Fate is cruel, though, so don’t piss her off! 😉
“Why this? It is alot of work!” Well, because I have met so many of you dear people through reading challenges and I want to give everyone the same opportunity to connect with each and every one of you who is participating. Plus, everyone likes to have comments on their blog. It is smile inducing and is the kind of positive thing I want to be promoting right now.
That’s it! Tune in Thursday to read about Endicott Studio and to see what your prizes will be if you are brave enough to take on the blog-visiting challenge to get your name in the drawing!
Be safe today, and Beware of the dolls!
Hurray for our new baby niece or nephew! We are all thrilled.
I can’t believe you posted the doll picture. I am sure Tom will make a comment any minute now.
Hi! I was here.
Hee! Congrats to your sister and her husband – wonderful news!
My copy of Children of Hurin is winging its way to me from Amazon according to the order tracker. Hooray!
Look forward to seeing the Endicott post, will have to catch up on some of the blogs I haven’t had a chance to comment on yet. 🙂
Abby and Mike, I am so excited to hear your happy news.
Carl, I had a great time digging through your box of toys while your were working the other evening. That clock picture looks strangely familiar somehow!
Congratulations to the new parents – to be!
You know, my mom wrote today to let me know she’d ordered a copy of the last Harry Potter book for me, and she wanted to get something for the Boy as well…Children of Hurin is what she picked up, funnily enough. It looks rather interesting though – let us know how it is, will you? 🙂
Oh! And if you would like to read a more in-depth review of that series I mentioned: http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/6032.php
Thanks RB, I appreciate the link.
Congrats to Abby & Mike (and Moses & Motley, too!)
Oh, the new Tolkien. I want to get that, but I keep looking at the other Tolkien books I own and have not read, and then I think that this hardcover with pretty pictures…. I imagine my willpower might last until the weekend….
Looks like I have already been working my way towards the next giveaway. I have read all the posts on the review site and commented on most of them. But not all 53, because all 53 of them have not posted reviews. 🙂
That doll picture is hilarious! Leave it to you…
Nice buy…quite a few of us in my regular blog visits seem to have such similar reading tastes. Always fun reading up on like minded blogs.
And what a great idea for the contest! I’ve just started doing these reading challenges and I’ve added about 5 new blogs to my blogroll just from this challenge.
Dad and I also add our congrats to Mike and Abby-we are so thrilled for them We have three beautiful grandchildren and are happy to add another to our household.
Hey, Carl did you introduce Black Bart to Red? He may ditch Johnny West yet!!
Congrats to Abbey and Mike from Keri and I !!!!!!!!!!! We’re so excited for you both.
And just because I can’t resist shilling for my company. Carl picked a wonderful Anne Geddes photo above. Well the company I work for, American Greetings, has partnered with Anne Geddes to make Mothers Day cards with her photos on them this year. We have six designs and you can find them in any Wal-mart store for sure. Ok advertisement over now. 🙂
The “new” Tolkien book looks wonderful and I’m sure I will be picking it up soon too or adding it to my birthday wish list atleast.
Wonderful contest idea. I’ve lurked on numerous blogs but never posted. I shall change my ways in an attempt to win free stuff. I’m so easy.
You crack me up, mom!
Can’t believe you’ve stooped so low Jeff…not in shilling for your company, but in shilling for Wal-mart!
The dolls remind me of “Brokeback Mountain.”
Congrats to the family.
Congrats all round on the new baby. Hope the two existing ones won’t get jealous 🙂
Congrats on the new little one! Who can blame her for not keeping that one to herself?!!
🙂 Trust me Carl it was very hard for me to type the W word.
Reading all the blogs will be a bit of work, but also extremely rewarding, I think.
I’ve already begun, and I’ve found some interesting thoughts on old favourites of mine, and also reviews of books I’d never heard of before, and have now added to my ever-increasing “to read” list. Also, thanks to this my blog is not as lonely anymore.
I’m really excited about the new Tolkien. I need to pick it up.
Congratulations on your nephew/niece!
I officially have read and commented on all the blogs (except one, she has her comments turned off). Well, mostly I commented on the blogs that hadn’t posted a Once Upon a Time challenge review, most of the other people I had already commented on already.
There you go again, Kailana…overachieving! 😉
Wayne, I was going for a Brokeback Mountain thing with the dolls…only mine was very, very creepy. 🙂
I think I’ve commented on most of the Once Upon a Time blog, too, but I will go through again. The Mr. Linky makes it so easy to keep on what everyone is reading.
I’ve never heard of chocolate pops, but the rest of the picture suggests “creepy” to me!
Congratulations to the happy parents-to-be.
I have to admit it was pretty creepy what Carl did with his “dolls”, but it was more creepy that he wouldn’t let anyone touch them all weekend long. No matter where we went Carl had his doll, I mean action figure, in hand. Mary said you even slept with one of them.
Abby and Mike – I’m so happy for you. I hope this will be a wonderful, thrilling, enlightening experience for you both. 53 blogs! I will have a reading wish list long enough to last the rest of my life.