I'm not a big Winter fan. I guess as a kid our clothes were never warm enough (even though England rarely goes below 0C) and I was always miserable.



I always planned to emigrate to Australia where I perceived it was much warmer but ended up here in Canada instead (ooops!). So after spending 8 wet years in Vancouver we moved to Kelowna which was much colder, although not as damp! One of my first purchases was a snowsuit and boots. These have worked well during the last 7 years (when I could fit into them between pregnancies) and I have to say, it makes *all* the difference.

So this morning I donned the snowsuit (which is now two sizes too big) and went out with the kids into the back yard and park behind our house. I took the camera, got a few pics of the kids and some macros. There's no sign of life outside but I liked the color contrast of this red plant against the grey rock and white snow.

Enjoy!

More over at my Flickr!

If you shoot Nikon DSLR then keep reading.


For Sale:
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di XR LD IF aspherical macro lens (this is one that Karen Russell recommends if you can't get the Nikon version, it's got great reviews)

Purchased new in April 2009 (6 yr warranty). Comes with both caps, hood, box, receipt.
Great all around lens. Perfect for New Years, family shots, indoor shots, etc. 

I'm parting with my Tamron lens. I'll be upgrading. There's nothing wrong with the lens, it's one of those "it's not you, it's me" situations.

Asking $375 but I will entertain all reasonable offers.
Retails for $529


Local buyers only please.

Sometimes when I scrapbook, something just isn't right but you can't quite put your finger on it.  I'm sure you know what I mean.  Well the previous layout was bugging me.  Perhaps it was all the purple and orange.  It looked like something from the 80s (BTW, I'm told the 80s are back in.  Check out all the bat-wing sleeves at your local mall, and I saw a guy walking around with a John McEnroe headband.... but I digress).

So while I told Bonnie that I wasn't going to change the papers in the layout, I did (sorry 'bout that!) and here is the updated version.

Catching up on my scrapbooking. Here are a bunch of photos from the Summer.

Some photos from the Summer.  Not sure where K was that day but I was scared to get wet (maybe because she wasn't in a bathing suit?). 

I found a couple of old layouts that I haven't posted, so watch out for them.  They both use Yin Designs templates.  I mentioned Yin's templates in my previous post.  They are a different style (what I call photobooking) as the emphasis is more on the photos (and lots of them) with some journaling.  She offers a lot for free (just go through her blog archives). Feel free to leave me comments letting me know what you think.


Remember this? This one is a collection of pictures of my old apartment and views from our regular walk along the Quay.  Ahhhh, the days before country life and kids!


And this one? Hanging out at C's parents place in Palm Springs.  This was the one and only vacation we took back when we owned a computer store in Surrey.

I don't have a lot of time to scrapbook these days what with 3 school runs a day (J is in 1/2 Kindergarten and K is full time in Grade 1) so when I finally sat down to scrapbook these images it took me a whole day and evening to do it (between other things) and they are quite plain! I'm back on a hunt for a quicker way to digiscrap and have dug out Creative Memories Story Book Creator Plus 3 to re-evaluate it as well as taking a look at Yin's Templates at her blog Simply Yin and commercial site Yin Designs.

A late post of J's class cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes, with chocolate frosting, with chocolate smarties. Yummy!

Growing up in England, Halloween wasn't a big thing, we had Guy Fawkes night (Nov 5th) instead. In Canada Halloween is one of the biggest events for kids next to Christmas and ahead of Easter. They get to wear their costumes, this year Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Ironman and Cinderella, and "trick or treat" in our mostly retired neighborhood where you are lucky if you get 10 children all night (and we have 3 of them!). This means that the candy bars come in fistfuls and they'll be eating candy til Christmas if we ration it.


Yesterday we visited the pumpkin patch and when we got home we set to work designing and carving the pumpkins. Due to lack of artistic skills, I've finally taken relieved C of his carving duties and this year carved all 3 pumpkins (yes, without cutting any fingers off!).

Here's the end results.

This text is taken from a sharing moment given at the Kelowna & District Genealogy Society on October 4th, 2010.

Who here watches the TV show “The Tudors”?...

Ok, so I know it’s not historically accurate, but I *love* that show. There’s something about seeing history unfold before your eyes and how the intricacies of the plot are played out in a way that you don’t pick up on when you read a book.

So there I was, watching The Tudors. And for those of you that don’t watch it, they are up to the rise and fall of Henry VIIIs 5^th wife, Catherine Howard. Maybe you learned this rhyme in school (I know my dad did): Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. So this is the one who eventually was beheaded as a traitor for adultery and for representing herself as a “maid” prior to her marriage to the King. So imagine my interest when it was mentioned on the show that a young gallant, named Francis Derham, used to visit her in her chambers at night.

Hmmm, well I had to go look in my files. I knew my ancestor Sir Hugh Hamersley (Hamersley is my maiden name) married a Mary Derham, daughter of Baldwin Derham, in 1597, only 50 years later than the period being portrayed on TV. I also knew that she came from “good stock”, her brother was also a Knight. I have done quite a bit of research on her ancestry as she comes from the Audley/Courtenay line that is well documented as descending from King Edward Plantagenet. But I hadn’t done much on the Derham’s although did recently find a book on Google Books published by the Norfolk Genealogy Society based on the Visitation of Norfolk records from 1563. I had printed some pages on the Derham’s including a tree going back several generations that showed Mary and Sir Hugh. So I hunted it down and took a look.

Sure enough Mary did have a great-uncle (her grandfather’s brother) called Francis. And there, right beside his name it said “a traitor, who was executed”. It also said that Francis’ brother, Mary’s grandfather, had bought West Dereham Abbey off King Henry VIII. Aha! This lead was getting hot!

A quick search on Google books for Dereham Abbey revealed:
Thomas Dereham, in 33 Henry VIII, bought it off the king. Shortly after he was fetched out of it to the Tower, about the treason of his brother Francis Dereham, who was executed. Thomas at length was delivered out of prison: he had issue Thomas, Robert, John, and Baldwin, and a daughter.

Source: The History and Fate of Sacrilege - Discovered by Examples of Scripture by Henry Spelman (Google Books).

So now I had made the connection. Francis, the traitor, had a brother Thomas and a nephew named Baldwin. Mary’s father was Baldwin and her grandfather was Thomas.

And now this saga didn’t just affect Francis in isolation, his brother Thomas, my ancestor was also arrested and kept at the Tower of London, eventually being released.

So what was Francis guilty of? Well, it doesn’t appear that he was guilty of anything (and I’m not just saying that because he’s my family).

Quote:
"The interrogations proceeded intensively through the third week in November, and it is probable that both Culpeper and Dereham were racked. By the 22nd the council was satisfied of the guilt of all three, and it was proclaimed at Hampton Court that Catherine had forfeited the honour and title of Queen, and was to be known only as the Lady Catherine Howard. On 1st December the two men were arraigned, and both pleaded guilty, realizing the futility of any other course. Dereham's treason was actually much more problematic than Culpeper's because he never seems to have had any intention of resuming his relationship with Catherine. However, the fact that the relationship had existed, and that he had gratuitously been given the opportunity to resume it, were deemed to be sufficient. Moreover, it was Dereham rather than Culpeper for whom the King reserved his bitterest hatred, probably because it was he who had spoiled what Henry believed to have been his innocent bride. On 10^th December they were taken to Tyburn, where Culpeper was beheaded by the King's mercy, while Dereham suffered the full penalty of hanging, drawing and quartering. Both made 'a good end', confessing their faults, and their heads were displayed on Tower Bridge."

Source: The Six Wives of Henry VIII by David Loades, page 125

So there you have it. An interesting saga about my family, discovered through TV and Google Books.

I encourage you to check out Google Books if you haven’t already. To get to it, go to the main Google page and click on the link Books in the top left corner.

By early 2005, I had been researching my family history for about 15 years and had amassed tons of data that resided in a family history software program, Legacy 5.  At that time (and even now), I printed off my family group sheets and pedigree charts and stored them in a ring binder where they were easily accessible, but the ring binder wasn’t an interesting read for anyone else.  Even though I was also an avid scrapbooker, I had difficulty in scrapbooking genealogical information where, for the most part, there were no photos only census records, birth/marriage/death certificates and photocopies of parish registers.  I was disappointed that the information I had ever so carefully collected was now simply “going to waste” as nobody looked at it, especially as my parents and sister lived in Britain where I am originally from.

On recommendation from Claire Smith-Burns, a fellow KDGS member, I purchased and read Sharon DeBartolo Carmack’s “How to Write your Family History”.  This book is a great read and reasonably priced at (RSP $29.99 CDN) and I highly recommend it to anyone thinking about publishing a family history.  The first thing I learned from this book was that I didn’t have to do it all.  Sharon’s book suggested that I first determined the scope of the book.   Why this was a surprise to me I don’t know, but somehow I had set an expectation for myself that I should publish my entire family history or at least my entire paternal or maternal lines.  This was a relief as I knew that the very fact of trying to get ready to publish was causing me to delay the project.  As all genealogists know, for every ancestor you find there are two more waiting to be discovered.  You are never “done” with your genealogy and now this book was telling me that this was OK that I didn’t have to be finished, I simply had to define what I was going to include in the book.

The next thing I learned was that my book should be interesting.  This probably sounds funny to anyone reading this article but seriously, try reading an article in the National Genealogy Society Quarterly and you’ll soon discover that most written genealogies read more like lists of names, dates and facts.  The standard genealogy report formats are designed to provide genealogical data in an easy to comprehend written form but there is no requirement to make it interesting for the reader.  Now Sharon’s book was telling me I needed a plot and to develop themes in my family history, and it even explained how to create these using genealogical examples.  It further went on to introduce the concept of social history which Sharon explained “fills out the facts, breathes life into your ancestors, and turns the reader into an eyewitness of your family’s life.”

With these two ideas under my belt, I defined the scope of my project.  The story would be about my ancestors Carlo Aggio and Harriet Rayner, and would include information about their parents, children and grandchildren, most of which had ended up in workhouses or orphanages in Victorian London.

Now I had to develop a plan as to how I create my family history book.  While Sharon’s book stressed the need for proper citations, illustration, indices and appendices, she seemed to approach the project from the point of view that the book would be written by gathering all the documentation together and starting the text from scratch.  This didn’t sit well with me.  Why duplicate this effort, when I knew that my genealogy software could create a report (albeit uninteresting) that I could use as a base for my book complete with citations and an index?  So I decided that my approach would be to create a genealogical report of this family, export it into Microsoft Word and simply add more content to it to create my book.

I spent many hours doing background research to put my ancestors into historical context for the relevant time period and locations but by September 2005 I was finally ready to create my narrative report in Legacy 5 and begin combining the background research with the genealogy report.  This was where things suddenly didn’t go to plan.   I discovered that while Legacy could create a report that Microsoft Word would open, it didn’t export my 100 or so citations to Microsoft Word properly.  It created the citations in the body text and did not use Word’s footnotes or endnotes feature.  This was a huge problem because I knew I wouldn’t be able to add additional citations and have them renumber automatically.  In practice this would mean that every time I added a citation I would need to renumber every citation that followed it.

I enquired with Millennia Corp, the publishers of Legacy 5, about whether this would be corrected in the then due out Legacy 6.  They not only confirmed that it would not be a feature of Legacy 6 on launch, and they did not have an estimated date as to when the feature would be added.  After searching around online, I discovered that The Master Genealogist 6 was able to produce the report I needed complete with citations that Microsoft Word would read properly.  After trying to import my Legacy data file several times into TMG6 I discovered that TMG was losing part of the citation data!  Finally by January 2006 and several technical support calls and emails later, I had the report I needed in my hand (or rather in Microsoft Word) and could begin the merging of my genealogy with my background research*.

By the end of 2006 my book was finally complete. The text had been created, documents scanned, illustrations added, citations checked and the whole thing proofread. The next challenge was to determine how I was going to publish it.  Traditionally genealogists have been faced with enormous costs in publishing a family history book.  Publishers charge a certain amount to set up the book for printing and then want to make a minimum print run of a certain size.  This makes obtaining a single book an expensive prospect and, unless you can sell all the extra books, isn’t very practical.

In the Spring of 2007 I discovered online publishing.  Companies specializing in printing digital storybooks.  These full color books are printed with a hard cover, on archival quality materials and are hand-stitched so pages won’t fall out over time.  Books can include any combination of text, photos or even scrapbooking elements that you want.  They have several book sizes available including the horizontal 11 x 8.5 inches I selected for my book.  The online software is easy to use and after a couple of days uploading the contents of my book and finalizing my book project I was ready to order my book. I ordered two copies of my book which arrived 3 weeks later.

The amount of actual effort required to create my book was not huge even though the book took just over two years from inception to print.  Now I have been through the process it is much easier (and quicker) to repeat it. I have since published a few more books: a 4 generation pedigree book, a biography of my father based on letters he has written to my children, a history of the Hamilton family from Hamiota, Manitoba.

Genealogy is hard work.  We should take the time to share and enjoy our work with our family while we can.

* I have since switched to using Rootsmagic 4 www.rootsmagic.com which also exports citations to endnotes/footnotes in Microsoft Word. It is much easier than TMG to use and is substantially cheaper too.

If you own a scanner or multifunction device, you have the ability to make copies of your family photos. Why would you want to do this? Well the original photo may require restoration, perhaps the color has faded or changed, or the photo is cracked or scratched. You might also wish to use the photo in a scrapbook or produce copies for relatives. There are lots of good reasons why you might want to make a copy of a photo.

Even if you don't want to do any of these things, scanning a photo is a way to preserve that photo as it exists, today, knowing that it won't deteriorate any further inside your computer and that if you burn a copy on a disk or back it up to an online service (like Google Docs) it will be preserved forever.

The are hundreds of different scanners and multifunction devices out there, so I can't give you instructions on how to use your particular model, but there are a couple of things you should look for.

Always scan at 300 dpi or greater

To print at true photographic quality, you will need to print at between 240 to 300 dots per inch (dpi). This means that in order to print the photo at the same size it currently exists, you need to scan it at between 240 to 300 dpi. Anything less means that the photo will be printed smaller or, if you force the photo to the same size, the dots will be printed further apart and image detail will be lost. For photo paper prints, 300 dpi is recommended.

Following this logic, if you have a 3x3 image that you want to print at 6x6, you would in fact need to scan at twice resolution for full size (i.e. 600 dpi).

Having said this, many color photos simply aren't very sharp and there may not be a noticeable difference by scanning higher than 300 dpi.

It should also be noted that video displays (monitors) only require 72 dpi to maintain the original size. However, I do not recommend scanning at 72 dpi unless you are absolutely sure you won't ever need to print the photo. You can always reduce the dpi of an image but you cannot increase the dpi after you scan the photo.

Scan in the mode than matches your source document

Scanners offer several optimized settings for each type of source document: color photo, black and white photo, line art/document. Make sure that you select the right setting for your document type.

Would you believe I found mouse droppings in our minivan!!!! I came home from school drop off and had to dismantle the van, taking the seats out etc to give it a complete clean and vacuum.  Then it was off to Home Depot to buy a kid proof mouse trap to put into it.  What a nightmare.  Can't figure out how it got in but it was certainly feasting on all the dropped kids snacks.   Now I'm scared to drive it in case it runs up my leg while my feet are on the pedals (shivers).

Lesson learned - no snacks in minivan and check kids are closing the doors properly.

This scrapbook layout is from Jessica Sprague's Pen Tablet basics course week 4.  The photos of I were taken on Friday while playing in the paddling pool wearing her new Hello Kitty bathing suit courtesy of Auntie Ronnie (thanks Auntie R).  
 Photos taken on Friday. 

Week 2 layout from Jessica Sprague's Pen Tablet Basics course. Although this is a digital layout, you can see how my own handwriting can be incorporated into the layout. I used a calligraphy brush in Photoshop to do this.

This is an older layout done as part of the Jessica Sprague Wacom Basics course. I thought I better post it before J has another birthday in 2 months!

My Snapshots of a Good Life course got cut short at the end of last year due to an emergency in my home land requiring my presence.  Rather than take it again as an alumni, Kelli (of Caffeine Induced) and I are coaching each other through the course albeit at a snail's pace.

Kelli just posted her week 1 assignment which put the pressure on 'lil ol' me. So here goes:

Viewpoint:



And on composition:

I inherited these two watercolor paint boxes from my aunt who passed away last November.  I haven't really touched her art supplies so far as it's been too sore a subject for me as I am not yet over her death but I think I'm ready now to take a look at what I have and try to use it.

The larger box is a Daler Rowney Georgian watercolor set with 14 pans and two tubes (white and black). The pans are removable but aren't 1/2 pan size so I'm not sure whether replacements are possible.  The smaller box is an Alwyn Cranshaw box, also by Daler Rowney (not sure if these are Georgian the student series or not).  This box seems to have been sold as part of a set but might have been available separately as I didn't inherit anything else with it. It holds 6 x 1/2 pans.  The original colors were: Crimson Alizarin, French Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Cadmium Red and Hookers Green. As you can see only the crimson and the cad. yellow still have much left.  I'm  not sure what is supposed to be in the section to the right (if you know please leave a comment).  I am going to purchase the 1/2 pans and clean up the kit for some plein air painting (probably just out in my neighborhood to start with).

If you've been reading my blog a while you'll know that my first creative spot was inside a closet and then I moved out into the family room.  Well after hearing my husband complain about so much "c**p" everywhere for the 10,000th time, we agreed that I would take over the spare bedroom (former nanny's bedroom, former office with said closet).  I knew I couldn't fit all my Ikea furniture in there so hubby has inherited 1 desk as a result.

This is the end result:

View from the doorway, you can see my art table immediately in front of you.



Once inside you see my magazine rack. 1st shelf = knitting, 2nd shelf = photoshop, 3rd shelf = scrapbooking. This shelf was picked up from Winner's a while back.

Jutting into the photo from the right side is my easel.  It's a french easel with 3 legs so it isn't the smallest thing in the world but I can't afford a floor easel right now so I'm making do. The only thing that is good about it, is that it does have a forward tilt - an essential for pastel artists so the dust falls to the floor and not all over the painting. To the right of the easel is my metal drawer unit (from Ikea) that stores art supplies not in my plein air bag, includes tubes of paint, all the left over pastel sticks (I only use 1/3 or 1/2 in Heilman pastel box), pencils etc. Garbage can is underneath on the floor.  Brushes are on top in a metal pot.
P.S. This is my latest work, it's a portrait of Eric Dolphy, a jazz bass clarinetist/saxophonist.

Next up is my computer workstation area.  I've moved back into the closet.  You can see my printer, laptop, 24" monitor and scanner.  I also have a rubbermaid drawer system under the desk for my stamping supplies.  Since this photo was taken I've added an additional shelf and bulletin board above the scanner.

Next up are my shelving units - cubes from Ikea.  I *love* these shelving units they are so versatile. I actually have 3 of them and used to keep them all upright, but this time I thought I'd turn one on it's side so I could use the top for additional storage. Baskets on top are journaling basket and unmounted stamp storage.  File folders are full of genealogy stuff to be sorted (on a backburner right now).


Immediately above these shelves is a window where I keep my camera collection, 4 vintage rangefinders and my grandfather's kodak.


Next you'll see my Ikea Alex drawers.  I love these because they are shallow and can hold large paper - 13x19 printer paper but they are not quite large enough to hold newsprint paper pads.  On top is my cutting station - an SU guillotine and a mat cutter.

Now for my art table.  This is also from Ikea.  The table can slope or be level and can be at various different heights. I try to keep it sloped to prevent me from piling too much on top of it! 

So that's it.  I hope you enjoyed the tour of Studio M, my creative playground :)

My previous post detailed my experience at the Kelowna Photowalk, one of thousands of World Wide Photowalks that took place last week.  So what's it like to go on a photowalk?  The Munich photowalk group created a video of the experience to give you an idea.


Annual Worldwide Photowalk - Munich, July 24, 2010 from Ewalis Emotions on Vimeo.

If you think you'd like to try this experience then you'll have to wait until next year to register for one of the photowalks available at www.worldwidephotowalk.com.

On Saturday I attended the Worldwide Photowalk at the Eldorado Hotel here in Kelowna, British Columbia.  We set off at 8.30am on what was to be a bright and sunny morning.  First I took some photos in front of the hotel of some Harley Davidsons. Then I walked along the boardwalk taking advantage of the shade and cool weather at that hour of the morning.  I walked all the way down to Rotary beach then I headed back to the cool air conditioning of the hotel and took a few more shots before settling down with the other attendees for refreshments and brunch.

It was a great day and I got some good shots, my favorites were taken with my Nikon 80-200 2.8 lens which is extremely heavy and requires fairly fast shutter speeds in order to avoid blur.



All photos were edited in CS5 Bridge and Photoshop and shot in RAW!!!

The Monthly is Cathy Zielske's answer to the project 365 photo documenting craze that has gotten a lot of popularity in the last few years. Cathy (like me) can't commit to a daily regimen of taking photos.  I thought after my Daily December 2008 that I was ready for the Project 365 so I tried it back at the beginning of 2009 and it lapsed after a few weeks.  Trying to remember to take a photo daily, especially in the Winter when you can't go out (or don't want to), is really hard work and I admire anyone that can actually do it.

The Monthly is Cathy's solution to documenting the real moments of your life without the pressure of taking photos daily or on any schedule. In fact, the system she's devised allows you to take as many or as few photos as you want during the month. Basically it's a set of templates from designer digitals that includes a title page, a monthly title page (12 variations), a journaling page, a journaling and photo page, and several other collage templates for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Back to 2009, these photos are still largely un-scrapbooked and held prisoner inside my computer. So I thought it would be a good idea to test drive her system using the photos I took in 2009.  So here goes.

Title page

Monthly opener

Journaling page

Like most of my projects, we'll see how long I can keep doing this :) but I'm feeling better about those photos already knowing that I can simply "slap" them onto a page and call it done.

We got a new paddling pool for the back yard now that we have to fit 3 kids in (plus any of the neighboring kids that want to come over). Yesterday the kids spent the afternoon in the yard and "I" tried on K's sunhat and sunglasses. Is this a sign of things to come....

Been neglecting the blog lately (it's the end of the school/dance year so lots going on):

I sold my copy of Photoshop CS4 and bought a Dell 24" monitor.  It's in transit but is scheduled for delivery on Monday!!!  It was a one day sale, $289 down to $189. It will be 2nd screen to my laptop.  I have CS5 suite now.

I just finished a quilt top, just large layer cake squares in Basic Grey Blush fabric (yum!!).  Will turn it into a duvet cover for K's room. The photo is with only the rows sewn when I was doing a sanity check to make sure none of the pieces were upside down or in the wrong position.




My vacation scrapbooks (digital) just arrived from Blurb.com. I'm in love. They did a great job. I got a hard cover 12x12 and 6 - 7x7 soft covers ($12.95 each!!). The whole order was $150 (the large album was going to be $125 on it's own at Creative Memories so I vote blurb as being better value for money). Will definitely use Blurb again.

I'm so excited to read on the Kobo Reader blog that a software update will be released at the end of this month, although you can also sign up for the beta testing program and get your hands on the update earlier.

This is what Kobobooks said:

"Through the last 30 days, we have also been working on our first software upgrade for the Kobo eReader, focusing on what customers have been telling us. Our software is complete, and we are just working on the final touches on the upgrade process. The upgrade will be available the week of June 28th and we will make sure you know the minute it is available. For those that want to upgrade sooner, we are offering our beta program to partake in the software trial sooner.

Here is a sampling of some of the improvements we are making:
1. ePub Font resizing. You will be able to load Adobe ePubs with fixed font sizes (set by the content publisher or originator) and still be able to resize the fonts with your Kobo eReader.
2. Hiding 100 Free eBooks. Some customers have told us that they actually don’t want the 100 Free eBooks in their way, so we have added the ability to hide the 100 Free eBooks we provide. We are working on a wide range of other organization features for a separate release of our desktop software coming in the future.
3. The “Off” Screen. The challenge with eInk screens, is that even when they are off, they look like they are on. We are working on making this a lot more clear to everyone, especially those who are not experts in eInk.
4. Sleep Mode. We are introducing a new “sleep” mode, if you have left your device inactive for more than 5 minutes, it will go to sleep. This is helpful in managing battery life, and it’s also a behavior that people have come to expect.
5. Low Battery. Some of you have found situations where your battery runs down faster than expected. We found the problem, and fixed it. We’ve also improved how we tell you that your battery is low, and you are running out of time to finish your chapter. Lastly, we have improved this shut down process so it is clear that you have run out of battery, and your Kobo eReader needs charging.
6. Installation. Some of you Windows XP users have had difficulty installing the Kobo Desktop. We did a poor job communicating what version you needed, so we’ve fixed that and for those customers that don’t have Windows XP, Service Pack 3 – we are bundling in everything you need."

In the meantime, I *heart* my Kobo Reader.  It goes everywhere with me, it's light and fits into my purse.  I have a couple of light scratches on the glossy bezel (possibly from keys in my purse?) but no scratches on the display area.  The battery life has been fine and I've been reading for a couple of hours daily. 

If I'd have known just how convenient having an eReader is, I'd have gotten one a lot sooner.  You know when you go to the doctor and they show you into the doctor's examination room but you have to wait 10 mins, well out came the reader. Funnily enough, when the doctor came in he wanted to see it too!

To read my original Kobo eReader review click here.

As any mother of a son knows, while a son can be silly, goofy and rough, sometimes they can be sweet too. J picked this dandelion and proudly gave it to me like it was a red rose or a sweet bouquet.