sea-change

And when towards the sea you leap,

He looks as if he were asleep.

But when you once get in his range,

His whole demeanor seems to change.

He throws his body right about,

And his true character comes out.

It's no use crying or appealing,

He seems to lose all decent feeling.

After this warning you will wish

To keep clear of this treacherous fish.

from The Shark, by Lord Alfred Douglas

Well of course I wasn't referring to this sweet Guppy!

She's a custom order Guppy girl, made with the sweetest vintage flannel, and measuring a whopping 17" (well, whopping as far as guppies go). I hadn't been crafting for quite awhile, and didn't realise I was all out of stuffing, so Guppy girl had to go about half-stuffed for a few days.

Eventually, though, she was all ready to go to her new home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has been certified "Cozy and Huggable" by Ro :)

Have a super lovely rest of the week!

go ahead and say it

I don't watch TV much, relying instead on the nice folks at YouTube for entertainment. Well, one thing I watch with avid, fanatical interest are the old black-and-white movies, and TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. As long as it's black-and-white, and predates the mid 60s, I'll watch it. I love the fashions and the interior decor and the big, open typefaces. I love the crisp, refined accents and the painfully corny special effects. I love the way switchboard operators had to connect every phone call, and the way front doors didn't seem to have peepholes. I love how filling the car's gas tank cost $4.42.

Well, one thing that's especially fun about these old shows is that they'd show actors in all their fascinating, youthful glory -- some of them, still alive today, continue to show a vestige of what once was; others bear only a pale, haggard resemblance, so that you're taken by surprise when you see the credits, and think, "O my goodness! That was fill-in-the-blanks??".

So, during this period of brief, stolen bloggy moments, I thought I'd use my regular Go ahead and say it feature to quickly post some of my own black-and-white eye candy favourites. I'm pretty sure you'll agree -- they don't make 'em like they used to! First up -- Robert Redford :)

"Two photos of this guy just weren't enough".

on Facebook and "friends"

Pooh and Piglet illustration by E.H. Shepard

Hi all, just a quick little post today (please forgive any typos, grammatical errors and general ineloquence -- I have to rush through these things for now you know lol!).

Well, I'd popped into Facebook, and while I was there, I decided to do something I'd been wanting to for awhile -- go through my already small Friends list and Unfriend anyone with whom I hadn't interacted for ages, and whom I knew ultimately didn't give two hoots about me or my family.

As I Unfriended these people, I wondered why I'd even Friended them to begin with; I concluded it had been some sort of vague sentimentality, or a fleeting excitement at touching base again with someone I hadn't seen for decades. But after the initial rush of "how have you beens", communication quickly died and we became largely indifferent to each other, so why keep them on, burdening them with boring updates about myself?

As you might guess, I am not one of those people who have hundreds and thousands of FB "friends". I don't quite understand the people who do, and can only conclude that they need them for work, or else they're immensely entertaining and popular, and simply can't help themselves.

My one girlfriend has some 300 friends, for instance; on asking her if she spoke with all these people regularly, or if she even really knew who they all were, she frankly admitted she didn't (I won't even ask the guy who has 2,346 "friends"). Some of them were people she'd met only once or twice at a meeting or a party and then never saw again; others were friends of friends of friends, people she didn't even know, but who seemed to feel compelled to extend their social ripple as widely, albeit meaninglessly, as possible.

I can't help but wonder how FB affects one's concept of friendship. Many people seem to use their status updates as substitutes for get-togethers, or phone calls; comments and emoticons are used to show interest or concern. There is a sort of superficiality about it all, an implication that all it takes is a quick click of a button to be considered a friend.

Considering all the activity I see people engaged in on FB, I realise I've barely scratched the surface of what the whole thing is about. It was ages before I finally joined the site -- while the rest of the world was already fully immersed in friending, poking and gaming -- and I did so eventually in order to get in touch with an old friend from university.

For me personally, FB is wonderfully useful for things like that, and keeping in touch with those who are overseas. I post the odd photo or comment now and then primarily to keep in touch with them, and that's about the extent of my FB activity. I'm rarely on, but the times I am, I see people posting a million and one things, from political gripes to what they eat every day.

(My personal bugbear were the posts detailing every little thing their kids said or did, so I was thrilled to discover the feature that lets one silence specific people who do that FB equivalent of taking out a whole string of photos from their wallet and shoving it at you. These are the sorts of things your friends would probably never do to you in person -- FB seems to bring out unaccountable things in some people).

Well, for some time I'd wanted to share an article I'd read in an old issue of Real Simple, entitled Feel Better Already. The subhead read: "So maybe you can't change your health overnight. But you can get a head start, with these 21 painless, proven ways to instantly boost your well-being (inside and out)". Well, who doesn't want to know these right!

But before I get into that, my girlfriend happened to send me an article from The Economist. I laughed out loud when I saw the title: Facebook is bad for you -- Get a life!

A recent study "has shown that the more someone uses Facebook, the less satisfied he is with life... Those who used Facebook a lot were more likely to report a decline in satisfaction than those who visited the site infrequently. In contrast, there was a positive association between the amount of direct social contact a volunteer had and how positive he felt. In other words, the more volunteers socialised in the real world, the more positive they reported feeling...".

An earlier study "found that the most common emotion aroused by using Facebook is envy. Endlessly comparing themselves with peers who have doctored their photographs, amplified their achievements and plagiarised their bons mots can leave Facebook's users more than a little green-eyed. Real-life encounters, by contrast, are more WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)" (from The Economist; read the article in its entirety here).

Well, back to the Real Simple article. Obviously I can't copy the whole thing out here, but I'll quickly share with you a few pointers. Hopefully, you'll be able to find a back issue or the article online if you're really interested (following extracts from Real Simple, April 2013).

One, Smile -- especially if you don't feel like it. "When you smile, you trigger a psychological and neurobiological alignment with positive emotions, and that can lead to healthier living. In other words: Fake it till you make it". I agree!

Here's another: Snack on dark chocolate (yay!). "In addition to its other documented health benefits, dark chocolate may help sharpen your mind... Even better, science has found evidence for what you suspected all along: Chocolate may help take the edge of stress". Get to it, people!

Then: Try Nature's chill pills. "Take a bath with Epsom salts... Put 10 drops of lavender oil (also shown to help promote a state of calm) in 2 cups of Epsom salts. Add to warm water and soak in it for 20 minutes". Those of you with bathtubs, let me know how this goes!

Next: Take a hike. Research has found that "being in nature can improve cognitive function. In one study, an hour-long trek in a woody park improved subjects' performances on memory and attention tests by as much as 20%, compared with a walk in an urban environment. Furthermore, some Japanese research has shown that a day spent in the forest can improve immune function and decrease concentrations of adrenaline and cortisol for as long as a week". Tiny remnant rainforest, here I come!

Then: Get some "microexercise". "Studies show that everything from cognition to the lymphatic system improves if we are more consistently active throughout the day... [Researchers] found that those who got short bouts of exercise (between 1 and 10 minutes) through everyday activities experienced the same benefits, including lower blood pressure and cholesterol, as did those who continuously exercised for 30 minutes". Does getting a cup of tea from the kitchen count?

Next: Pull on socks at bedtime. "Swiss researchers found that people fall asleep faster when their hands and feet are warmer than the ambient temperature of the bedroom". Also if you can get your baby to sleep through the night.

And finally -- Get some perspective on Facebook. Researchers have found that "Facebook can make you feel bad about yourself, even if you're not conscious of it. People in the study who had large friend networks tended to evaluate their lives more negatively... people tend to post disproportionately positive updates... Also, the more friends you have, the more of those impossibly perfect updates you'll probably see". Yay for my tiny handful of real FB friends!

Have a super, feel-good start to the week everyone (and go for a walk with a friend)!

random bits

Hey ho everyone! I trust all of you are doing happy and well. I'm just writing a quick post while my mother is over cuddling Jacob! This post is really Rebecca's work; these are all her pictures (except, of course, the ones I took of her). They were taken on one of our regular walks to the beach (with my little old camera, I might add); I'm always fascinated by the way children perceive and interpret their surroundings. The picture above though is of Rebecca getting ready for ballet class :)

This is a picture of a sunbird, a bird that does bear some resemblance to the hummingbird. Rebecca got some neat pictures of this little fellow, which can be seen on her blog, along with some interesting info.

This mangrove swamp leads to the sea. It used to be substantially wider in area, and teeming with wildlife such as snakes, monitor lizards and mudskippers; sadly, this has been greatly affected by rampant human encroachment and development.

Many of the trees have been here since I was little (which, trust me, was a long time ago). They have the lush quality of the trees which used to surround our home; thankfully, these ones are still surviving.

These offshore structures are called kelongs. They're made largely of wood and are supported by tall wooden beams buried several metres into the sea bed. They're used mainly for fishing, though fishermen do live in the larger ones.

There's Ro scouring the shore with her specimen-collecting bag.

Rebecca had some interesting things to say about crustaceans in her blog post. She found a study that confirmed what I always believed -- that crabs and other crustaceans do feel pain. I've always been very much against the whole boiling them alive thing, and never accepted that crap about them feeling nothing.

The seaside version of that cow skull in desert thing.

Seeing this picture made me think of Blake's Auguries of Innocence, in particular the stanza that reads: "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour".

Now this thing. We've been seeing it out at sea for days now, bobbing about and looking increasingly weird and gladiatorial. The kids have taken to calling it "the head" and rush down to the shore every time to see if it's still there (it is). Despite looking at it through binoculars -- which Rebecca made a point of bringing for that very purpose -- we still can't tell exactly what it is. I keep saying that since no one's been reported missing, it's ok. The kids keep saying he's the lone survivor of a water-treading competition.

This is a picture I took of Becky looking thoughtful and melancholy. She's been having quite a bad bout of flu, poor thing, but is on the mend now. I look at her here and marvel at how fast she's growing.

And finally -- a quick one of Jake. He's a month now, and becoming increasingly responsive; there's nothing quite like a baby smiling at one in recognition or delight -- well worth the thumb splint lol (from which I'm recovering, praise the Lord). Do drop by Becky's blog for more pictures (bigger, better ones!) and deeper insights :)

Have a blessed, peaceful week everyone!

lookie-look

Hi everyone! I'm taking advantage of my mother-in-law being here to share with you more awesome happy mail! The super talented Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers sent me this veritable trove of goodies -- adorable beaded fishies for the girls, and gorgeous gemstone earrings for me, as well as the cutest bracelets -- possibly for me, but which the girls quickly commandeered.

Just look at the details on these memory wire wristlets!

And check out the amazing beadwork on these fishies -- how does one even start to make these?? The girls were thrilled of course, and I'll be using my earrings at the next posh do I attend (some day... soon... ). Thank you soo much Cynthia! That quote on the back of your card is the perfect reminder to all of us :)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Sojourn

Well, one thing I just had to do while my mum was helping with Jacob was a bit of crafting! I love Jakey to bits of course, but I've been quite "art-deprived" for awhile now. I'd actually been thinking about this stop-motion experiment since the last weeks of my pregnancy, but then I was just too big to get on my hands and knees and futz around with little dolls and props. So as soon as I had a free afternoon, I rushed to give this a go!

Unlike my other stop-motion efforts, this one was an experiment in fitting images to music, rather than the other way around. Well, I realised soon enough that it wasn't that easy or straightforward, but I rushed to put something together anyway while I had the opportunity! Certainly it was a good breather to have that me time. This is a song that has served as a lullaby for Jake, so hopefully you'll enjoy it, if nothing else :)

Have a peaceful, blessed rest of the week!

a little update!

Hi everyone! It's been awhile hasn't it? I trust all of you are well and happy, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words, good wishes, and generous support of Becky's guest blogging efforts.

My mother's over to be with Jacob today, so I thought I'd grab the opportunity to quickly write a post! As you might imagine, I'm rather a zombie at present and haven't had many spaces of personal, private me time to speak of. I've injured my thumb and wrist too, and have to keep them immobilised in a splint for now. Please pray for me, not just in terms of healing -- which I'm certainly trusting God for -- but in terms of my attitude -- that I bear up with good cheer and fortitude!

On a brighter note though, I wanted to share with you some awesome happy mail I received! One of the sweetest things about blogging is the unexpected friends you make -- really rare, thoughtful people who go out of their way to make you feel extra special! Well, these gorgeous works of art are by the lovely Stacy, a prolific artist with a penchant for crows! Aren't they beautiful? Stacy sent me this gift of not one, but four, wonderful pieces -- three ACEOs for my kids, and a canvas plus display easel for me!

Rebecca and Ro squealed with delight when they saw their gifts (Jacob couldn't quite appreciate his yet!). Becky brought hers to school to show her friends, so I couldn't include hers in the photo. Thank you soo much Stacy -- you know how I've always loved Baby Crow!

Have a lovely week everyone!

curiouser and curiouser

Hello! It's me, Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! How are you? Mommy says her hands are literally full with Jacob and it's too tiring typing with one finger haha! Luckily, I am here! Today she wanted to share with you this picture she saw posted on Facebook! It shows Franco Banfi, a diver and snake enthusiast from Switzerland, with an enormous anaconda in Brazil. Isn't it awesome??

"Anaconda" is a name that actually refers to a group of snakes, but it is used most commonly to refer to the green anaconda, one of the largest snakes in the world. Green anacondas can grow to more than 29 feet, weigh more than 550 pounds, and measure more than 12 inches in diameter! Also, the females are much larger than the males -- yay!

Anacondas become so big by eating wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybara, caimans, and even jaguars! They are nonvenomous constrictors, which means they coil their muscular bodies around captured prey and squeeze their victim until it asphyxiates. They can swallow their prey whole, no matter what the size, because their jaws are attached by stretchy ligaments. After a big meal, they can go for weeks or months without food. Though they are heavy and awkward on land, they move in a smooth, stealthy way in water. Their eyes and nasal openings are on top of their heads, allowing them to lie in wait for prey while remaining nearly completely submerged -- scary!!

You can see more incredible pictures of this anaconda and Mr Banfi here. But another reason Mommy wanted to share this FB post with you was because she was sooooo tickled by all the comments that people on FB left for it!

For example, Dennis wrote: "I would choose a zoom lens from waaaaay over there".

Amy wrote, "Oh yeah.... let's get real close to it  ...said no one ever".

Michelle wrote, "I would choose a massive zoom lens... from SPACE!" Hahahahaha!!!

What about Ronnie, who wrote, "Diver better be careful -- dat conda didn't get that size smelling the roses!" Or Greg: "THIS is why sawed-off 12 gauge shotguns were invented. And machine guns. And grenades".

Edwin wrote:"Why in all that's insane in this world would anyone get that close to that??" And Sharon: "Pictures of him being squeezed to death coming soon".

From Thais: "Aren't they usually thinner? It must've just ate a family... of bears".

And Alicia, who commented right after: "Looks like he just ate a small tribe.... and 3 crocodiles.. for an appetizer" Hahahahahahaha!!!!!

Mommy was laughing and laughing as I read her this stuff. She says it's hilarious the same way the comments on Is It Normal are. But her absolute FAVOURITE was this one by Gdora. The person didn't write anything, but just posted this picture:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! Maybe you could use it to comment when words just aren't enough HAHAHA!!!

Have a super awesome rest of the week everyone!! See you again soon!!

posy pin!

Hi everyone!! It's me, Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! How have you been? As you might guess, we have been pretty busy with Jacob! Mommy was looking after him every day round the clock, plus taking care of Ro and me since school had started, and she got quite tired so that she finally caught Ro's cold. But she says she is very thankful that God watched over her all through her pregnancy, so that she never fell sick the whole time, even when she had to look after me and Ro every time we were sick.

So of course, she hasn't had much time to do any crafting, or anything of her own really. But she did manage to put together this pin whenever she had a free moment. She calls it a "posy pin" (actually, she wanted to call it a "corsage pin", but obviously "posy pin" sounds a lot better)! As you can see, it is like her other collage pins, made with thick board and other recycled elements.

It's made with lots of gorgeous flowers and even has a cat thrown in! It's just like a real corsage, except it won't wilt (and there's a cat)! Mommy hopes to make more of these for the shop when she has more time, which means not any time soon. But this pin might get listed if anyone is interested over the next couple of days -- just email or convo her (now sold; thank you :)!

OK, that's all for now! Mommy says hugs to everyone who wrote her such nice emails and left such kind comments on our last post. We hope you are all doing super!! See you again real soon!!

just a quick one!

Hello everybody! Just a quick little post today! First, a picture I took of Jakey at five days old! Hello little cutie!!! I LOVE him! He is such a good baby :D

Here he is sitting in the Boppy pillow Ro and I used when we were babies! Hello Jakey!! I love you!! Mwah mwah mwah!!!

And second, a little movie I made of my sister and me singing to Mommy in the hospital! (She was eating properly, but we wanted to sing her the song anyway).

Mommy says thank you so much everyone for your kind words and good wishes!! Have a super lovely day!! See you again soon!!

take my advice...

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late, by Mo Willems

While Mommy was sitting with Jacob, she read an article in a magazine called Junior and asked if I could type parts of it out to share with you! Of course I said OK, because I love typing! (There are some bad swear words, but I know they're bad and not to use them).

The article is a regular feature in the magazine called Ask Katie. The subhead says Everyone has an opinion when it comes to raising children -- just make sure you keep yours to yourself. Mommy says it is funny and well-written -- and she says OF COURSE no one we know is like this!!

"[We] just carry on looking after our children with a variety of techniques ranging from military-style regimes, to barely-coping strategies. It works. Aside from the odd wobble -- when your child comes up with something totally left-field -- we know what we are doing. It's just a pity that other people don't believe us.

"You may get an inkling of what you're in for before your child is even born, as an avalanche of unwanted advice, ideas, opinions and crackpot theories is proffered. And it gets worse after your baby is born. Why won't people just shut up? Having been subjected to interfering family, friends and complete bloody strangers since I started to show a slight bump, I have formulated my own crackpot theory on this.

"Despite what they might say when under the influence of alcohol, most people don't know how to end world poverty or solve the economic crisis. They simply don't have the necessary experience. But hey, everybody has been a child, which they think makes them perfectly qualified to tell you how to bring up yours.

"So, while powerless to do anything about sub-prime mortgages, they will sound off at great length about how you should put your baby to bed, what you should give your child to eat, wear, play with or think, how to impart discipline and why children today are so spoilt and badly behaved.

"Ask yourself this -- how many times have you been told -- unsolicited -- how to bring up your child and what you are doing wrong? And how many times has anybody told you: "My, aren't you doing a good job"? Exactly.

"Of course, not everyone goes on at great length. But wordless condemnation is just as bad. The accumulated sighs, harrumphs, pursed lips and significant looks that a mother is subjected to can be enough to send her completely off her rocker... Mothers themselves are particularly good at doing this, so take a vow right now NEVER to do it yourself when the grandchildren arrive.

"There are times when we could all do with the odd word of kindly encouragement, but I fail to see why people take it on themselves to tell you how to do your job with such wearying regularity, when you haven't asked their opinion.

"When my daughter was a baby, people told me what she should wear (that is, they didn't like my taste in clothes), when I should pick her up (because that's how they treated their own children)... I even had a complete stranger in a lift criticise the shape of my pram (don't know what her bloody excuse was).

"They just never stop. And they never, ever will. So all you can really do is let all the criticism wash over you and do as you damn well please. Just don't start telling other people where you think they're going wrong" (extracted from Junior magazine, issue 162).

Have a super weekend everyone!!!

hello Baby!

Hello everybody!!! How are you? It's me, Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! I'm so excited!! See the picture above? Yes! My baby brother has been born! His name is Jacob and he is sooooooooooooooooooooo cute! This picture shows cards that Ro and I made in the hospital room. The one in front is by me, and the one behind is by Ro!

Mommy let us stay with her while she was in the hospital. Let me share with you some pictures! Here you can see me waiting outside for her while she was in labour. I was really sad that they wouldn't let me go in with her. They said I was too young and would be scared. That was really dumb. Sometimes grown-ups don't get kids at all.

The hospital room wasn't very big, but it was quite nice. We could almost pretend we were on a hotel staycation. Well, almost. Here Ro and I are watching Monster High on Daddy's tablet.

We read and watched a lot of TV because there wasn't much else to do. Mommy's bed was too small to fit Ro and me in beside her, so Ro had to sit facing us.

We did a lot of drawing too. This is from a book Ro made for Mommy and our brother.

I have discovered that hospital food can be quite blah.

But not always. This was my breakfast.

And lunch.

I saw this lying on the table and asked Mommy what it was. She said it was the times of her contractions! She said that after awhile she felt that they were real contractions and not fake ones, so she went to the hospital.

Here is a picture of me! Do you know what I am doing? Yes -- blogging!!

I found this picture of me from four years ago. I am sitting on Mommy's bed in the same hospital. Yes, this was when Ro was born!

And this is me now! 

We are all home now. Here I am with Jake. I love carrying him and feeling his soft skin and hair. I love to just sit with him too! Mommy says I can take more pictures of Jakey when he is less sleepy looking. She says thank you so much for all your kind wishes and emails. She says Jakey arrived exactly on his 40-week due date, sparing her the pain of paying for yet another gynae visit. She says her labour and delivery were smooth and easy, and Baby is perfectly healthy and fine, praise the Lord! She also says she has stitches "down there" and pooping is just not fun at all.

I am quite busy helping Mommy with Jakey so I will probably take awhile to post things. I hope all of you are happy and doing fine! Thank you for visiting! See you again soon!!

A few more pictures here!

curiouser and curiouser

Hello everybody, it's me Rebecca -- from My Amazing Days!! This morning Mommy woke up really cranky because she had another achy, disturbed sleep, but she cheered up after her prayers because this was the title of today's devotion: "God's Perfect Timing"!

The Bible quote was "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:4). "'Due season' is God's season, not ours," the devotion said. "We are in a hurry; God isn't. He takes time to do things right -- He lays a solid foundation before He attempts to build a building... We may not always know, but we can be satisfied to know the One Who knows. God's timing seems to be His own little secret. The Bible promises us that He will never be late, but I have also discovered that He is usually not early. It seems that He takes every available opportunity to develop the fruit of patience in us.

"Vine's dictionary of Greek words begins the definition of patience as "Patience, which grows only in trial"... Patience is vital to the development of our full potential. Actually, our potential is only developed as our patience is developed. It is God's way -- there is no other, so why not settle down and enjoy the journey?" (from New Day New You, by Joyce Meyer).

I was glad Mommy felt better! Then I decided to show her my little movie that I had been working on yesterday! Do you know what the "twilight zone" is? It is the middle layer of the world's oceans, that part of the pelagic zone that goes down from 200 to 1000 metres below the ocean surface (the pelagic zone is any water in a sea or lake that is neither close to the bottom nor near the shore). According to Wiki, some light penetrates this deep, but it is insufficient for photosynthesis. Animals such as swordfish, squid, wolf eels, cuttlefish, and other semi-deep sea creatures live here. They are adapted to life in near darkness, cold water and high pressure. Also, there is enough sunlight for animals, such as the chain catshark, to be fluorescent!

Mommy enjoyed my little movie -- I hope you will too!! Have an awesome weekend and see you again soon!!

wheee it's a

I know it looks like "Tale", but it's actually "Sale"! Mommy says she will be putting the shop into "vacation mode" in a day or two, so she thought she'd have a little sale before that! You can get 10% off anything in the shop that's already made and ready to ship! Just enter code JUNE13 at checkout.

This discount doesn't apply to custom, made-to-order items, but Mommy says there are some things she could try to make if you really want, like the Guppy pins -- just please email or convo her first! The shop will re-open in a month or so, but Mommy says she probably will take on some custom orders after she's popped.

Thank you for visiting!! I hope you are having a super cool day!!

Paint with water!

Hello everyone! It's me -- Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! I'm guest blogging again! Today I wanted to share with you something my sister and I have been having fun with during the holidays. Mommy says many of you have young kids too and might like to know about stuff your kids might enjoy! So today I thought I'd share with you our Paint With Water set!

In the picture above you can see four of our paintings. The top two were done by Ro, and the bottom two by me! Ro is a good artist isn't she! I like the way she chooses and mixes up colours!

The pictures are from Melissa & Doug's Paint With Water series. Mommy actually got it for Ro because Ro loves art so much, and this series is really for young kids (ages 3+). The front says "Perfect For The Beginning Painter!" But I really wanted to do a few, and Ro was really nice and said "ok"!

So this is what each page inside looks like. Mommy got us the "Ocean" one, because we both like the sea and sea creatures. As you can see, every page has paints at the top. It's a lot less messy than setting up a real paint palette, and it's more convenient too because there's less clean-up. You just wet the brush -- they give you one! -- and start painting! When you're done, you cut off the palette from the top and display your masterpiece!

Here's a close-up of the jellyfish one I did. Aren't they cute! The paints are watercolours, so they have a nice, soft effect. There isn't a lot of paint in each palette though, so you can't get too carried away. I think you might enjoy doing these even if you are a grown-up!

Melissa & Doug actually have quite a lot of fun things for kids, and Mommy has got us quite a few of them before. One of our favourites is the Make-A-Face Sticker Pad, as well as the Scratch Art Sketch Pad Book! Maybe you might like to try them! Hope you are having a lovely day! We are finally having a bit of rain -- yay!! See you again soon!

Oh, Mommy says Baby is bigger now than we were when we were born. Baby is super happy kicking and punching her like crazy and shows every intention of staying in there as long as possible. We yell "Pop pop pop!!!" at her tummy every night.

Louise!

Hello everyone, it's me -- Rebecca, from My Amazing Days! How have you been? I hope you are enjoying lots of fresh air and cool breezes! Today the PSI is just under the "unhealthy" level, which I guess is a great improvement from the "hazardous" level (find out more about PSI here!). Some rain would be lovely.

Today I am helping my Mom share some craft stuff. This picture shows a lady named Louise Brooks. She was a great actress and dancer in the 1920s and 30s, and was famous for her cute bobbed hairstyle. My Mom says she was a flapper, and very forward for her time.

"Most beautiful dumb girls think they are smart and get away with it, because other people, on the whole, aren't much smarter," she once said. I think this pin is very cool and dramatic, don't you? It looks kind of mysterious too. Mommy says this lady always makes her think of the word "exotic". I think it's great that it's all recycled stuff and OOAK! I've listed this super neat pin in her shop! Thank you for visiting! See you again soon!