Having your own personal economic slowdown? Watch movies!

Home for the Holidays
Losing her job is only the beginning of the Thanksgiving holiday.

“On the fourth Thursday in November, 84 million American families will gather together… And wonder why.”

American Beauty
I still love this movie, even if it is slightly depressing.

“I will sell this house today.”

Mr. Mom
A laid off Detroit autoworker becomes a SAHD.

“This is gonna be fun.”
“Guess what? I am making mommy a bet. Daddy’s betting mommy a hundred dollars to just her one dollar, that she doesn’t get a job before me.”

Office Space
Life trapped in cubicle hell.

“I’m late for a meeting with the Bobs”

Tootsie
A struggling actor, reinvents himself.

“Are you saying that nobody in New York will work with me? “

“No, no, that’s too limited… nobody in Hollywood wants to work with you either. I can’t even set you up for a commercial. You played a *tomato* for 30 seconds - they went a half a day over schedule because you wouldn’t sit down.”

Baby Boom
If you loose your job, will Sam Shepard show up?

Broadcast News
A classic Joan Cusack bit, steals the movie.

“You’ll never make more than $17,000 a year!”

Career Opportunities
An underappreciated John Hughes, coming of age movie, about finding your way.

“You know Jim I’d hire you in a second if I hadn’t already fired you so many times.”

Bugs Life
Unemployed Circus bugs find a new gig.

“You Fired!”

The Full Monty
Unemployed steel workers become male strippers.

My best friend, Haiku Mama, got me this super cute apron for my birthday yesterday. I am going to use it to hold my crafting and sewing tools. It is from Liz Lamoreux’s Etsy Shop.

We were lucky enough to get one of the advance reading copies of my best friend’s new book, Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel. H was thrilled to think he might be the 1st kid to ever read the book in the world.
There will be more to come on this as we read the whole book. H said of the the book, “They are really going to move to Mars!”

H’s school project assignment this month was to make a musical instrument. (Don’t get me started on the monthly project thing.) I was expecting something along the lines of last year’s great ancestor doll debacle, but it actually turned out to be simple and fun.
Since H started school, I always try to save baby food jars, shoe boxes and paper towel rolls. These seem to be the most requested items for craft projects. I had to help with cutting the holes in the shoe boxes, because the cardboard was so thick. The kids were able to assemble the rest. They used ribbon and markers to make stripes. They have been playing with them ever since we made them on Sunday.

This was the second Rick Riordon book signing we have attended at BookPeople. Papalibrarian took this picture of H and I waiting in line to get our 39 Clues: Maze of Bones books signed. I love the look on H’s face-a little bit of author awe! Exactly what I would expect from the son of two librarians.

Last school year, my son, H, took art lessons in our home from Laurie Mann. She teaches private lessons, as well as teaching a bunch of other classes through the art museum and studios. For our lessons Laurie not only taught the basics of drawing, she also read art-based stories to the kids, and picked out appropriate supplies for them to use.
She focused mainly on the fundamentals of drawing with him. Like a lot of kids, H is interested in comics, and drawing things that interest him, so they incorporated those elements into the lessons. Henry likes to draw pictures of birds. Here are two birds he drew during last year’s lessons.



This year, C, decided she would like a lesson also. Laurie is great about working with both the kids on their individual levels, as well as sometimes having them work together. This year Laurie is going to expand beyond just drawing to include some other types of art projects.



We just had the first lesson the other day. Laurie is having them make mosaic tiles. Each child picked out their own tile selections and glued them on the larger tile. Next week they are going to finish them with grout. C also worked on drawing a dragon with Laurie. The kids had a great time getting to use the caulk to glue on the tiles and sorting through the big bag of pieces to pick just the right one. Here are pictures of their works-in-progress.