Emily Kate

day 57: September 29, 2008

I attempted to take a photo today of Sarah and I on the train to Target in the Bronx. But I had of course forgotten to put my CF card back in the camera. Of course. So I didn’t actually take this photo on the 29th. It’s of a pretty Jewish temple I saw on 5th Ave.

day 58: September 30, 2008

Today was Rosh Hashanah so Jacob was off school a half day the day before and today and the next day. He still had lots of studying to do so that’s why he’s not in most of my pictures. And that’s also why he was hardly in the pictures at all lately. Apparently med school is time consuming. Who knew?

Candice’s kids were off school too so I went with them to the Central Park Zoo. It’s tiny but very nice. Unfortunately, it was overcrowded with parents who very obviously usually have nannies to take care of their kids. I’ve never seen so many kids or adults so overdressed for the zoo. And we also got to witness the Maclaren wars in the crowds. But we had fun and it was a nice day to be out.

When we were getting lunch at the cafe we noticed a crew setting up a set on the outside of the restaurant. It turned out they were filming the FX tv show “Damages”. We got a firsthand view of the scene they were filming. It’s funny, they set it up like a fancy restaurant when it was actually the zoo. Now the question is, who is this guy?? We looked the show up on imdb.com and couldn’t find him. But he looks really familiar!

day 59: October 1, 2008

I really hate to post this awful picture but it’s all I’ve got! I used some of our apples to make applesauce the day before and used most of it to make applesauce chicken today. It’s not much to look at (especially with Jacob holding it out after flatly refusing to be in my picture!) but it was delicious.

Recipe here.

day 60: October 2, 2008

Busy busy busy with the shop this whole week, especially today. I think I took a picture of a game….I actually don’t know what happened to today’s picture!

day 61: October 3, 2008

I was feeling like I was in a funk towards the end of the week. Just kind of in a rut. I was so happy when Jacob came home from classes and wanted to go out. We went to Gray’s Papaya for some cheap and delicious lunch.

Took some pictures in Verdi Square. Then we walked to Central Park and I took some more pictures.

Then we decided we needed to go on a real date for the first time in weeks. We walked to the movie theater in Lincoln Center but they didn’t have the movie we wanted. So Jacob convinced me to walk from there to Times Square for the theater showing Ghost Town! Isn’t he mean? That means from where we got off the subway we walked 30 blocks from 72nd to 42nd with a detour to the park. It doesn’t sound that far but it is! I’m getting quite the impressive calves from all this walking!

We passed the temple on our walk.

We were early for the movie so after buying tickets we decided to go to Applebees. We figured it was a good choice since we know we like it and it’s fairly affordable. Of course I’d forgotten about Times Square prices! The prices are marked up about 50%! Sigh. Oh well. It was delicious and fun to eat several floors up in the building, looking out and down on Times Square.

Ghost Town was very funny and cute. We were laughing out loud through most of it. It had a surprisingly sweet ending.

day 62: October 4, 2008

KP was in town for the weekend! It was so great to see her (and made us miss Chloe a lot!) We attempted to have lunch at our favorite baked potato place but they aren’t open on weekends. We ended up across the street at City Bakery. We were disappointed that they didn’t have any of the famous brownies. We walked around to a street fair. Then we went to Grand Central Station and Bryant Park. Candice took KP’s umbrella picture, which I hope she posts! I did get a silly one of her and the umbrella in between.

Then Candice had to leave but KP, Sarah and I hit up Make My Cake in Harlem for cupcakes. We tried to go to Crumbs by Bryant Park but they aren’t open on weekends either. What city do we live in that restaurants aren’t open on weekends? Lame! But I love Make My Cake so that’s ok.

Jacob and I attempted to put up the removable wallpaper I bought a few weeks ago. Let’s just say…I thought the packaging said pre-pasted when in fact it was un-pasted. Surprisingly the paper stayed up a good 5 minutes with just water before it fell down! We’ll be attempting it again with paste on Monday. It looked insanely fabulous while it was up though.

day 63: October 5, 2008

Pardon another lousy photo!

Conference watching! Thank heavens for the internet. We used an S-video cord to hook it up to the TV and speakers. Almost as good as watching it on regular tv in Utah. I love that we can watch it “on demand” online. That way I can catch up on the sessions I missed. And I can watch them again when I’m working or cleaning. I love that the church makes the materials so accessible.

This morning when the session ended I was so bummed when the end of the session wasn’t followed with a commercial for food storage. That made me miss Utah. They did show the “in between” session programming (Church News, Pres. Monson bio) online though, which I really loved. I just adore Conference. It’s the 2 best weekends of the year. I still have a lot of talks to watch but so far I loved Elder Wirthlin’s, Elder Holland’s, and President Monson’s talk (the one about the little girl!) If you watched, which talks did you enjoy? Sometimes I get more out of a talk on a second listen (for example, Elder Bednar’s pickle talk from a few conferences ago) so let me know which ones you liked!

Have a great week!

You’ve got one more day to take advantage of our awesome freebie deal! It’s good until tomorrow night. Enjoy the free Halloween game while it’s still available!

New Halloween Games!

First, Ghosts in the Cemetery. An awesome game for practicing the hard/soft sounds of c and g. In this game, pairs of students race to get 3-in-a-row (tic-tac-toe style) of a hard/soft c or g pattern. For example, century, cemetery and cereal would be 3 in a row of the soft c pattern.

Next up is Spook Alley, a more advanced version of Trick or Treat for double digit addition, subtraction and even multiplication! Players may need to keep scratch paper handy for solving the spooky problems in this game!

Want this fun new Halloween game for free?

Here’s what you’ve got to do!

- If you have purchased from us in the past and have not yet left us feedback, please go back and leave us feedback for each item purchased. Then send us a convo (secondstorywindow) or e-mail (sstorywindow@gmail.com) to let us know you left feedback, and the game is yours! Be sure to include your etsy username if you e-mail. Don’t know how to leave feedback? Look below for directions.

- If you have purchased from us in the past and you have already left us feedback for each item purchased, send us a convo (secondstorywindow) or e-mail (sstorywindow@gmail.com) to let us know you left feedback and want the game, and the game is yours! Be sure to include your etsy username if you e-mail.

- What if you haven’t purchased from us yet? Well now is your chance! Order anything from our shop and leave feedback as soon as you are comfortable. After you leave feedback, send us a convo (secondstorywindow) or e-mail (sstorywindow@gmail.com) to let us know you left feedback and want the game, and the game is yours! Be sure to include your etsy username if you e-mail.

- Or of course, you could just go to the shop and purchase the game.

Need help leaving feedback? No problemo. I made a handy little tutorial for you!

1. Go to www.etsy.com and click login.

2. Login using your username and password.

3. If you have made any purchases from us or any other etsy store and have yet to leave feedback, there should be a banner across the etsy page when you login reminding you that you need to leave feedback. It looks like this. Click on “click here to leave feedback.” That will take you to the feedback area of “Your Etsy”

4. Click the rating you’d like to leave: positive, neutral, or negative. Etsy recommends contacting buyers with concerns before leaving neutral or negative feedback. Leave a comment about the item, seller, or experience or just say ‘Thanks!” You can also leave this blank if you wish. Then click submit!

5. Repeat for any items left awaiting feedback.

If when you logged into etsy there wasn’t a banner reminding you to leave feedback, just click on ‘”Your Etsy” at the top of the page. You’ll see a page that looks something like this. If you don’t have a shop, there obviously will not be items listed for sale in the main column.

Click “feedback” and you’ll go to the same screen shown above and follow the same steps.

This offer is good until the end of the day this Sunday, October 5th, 2008. All feedback must be left by that night to qualify for this offer.

Don’t forget our awesome upgrades!

Our big announcement for today is…… a game upgrade!!!

Confused? Let me explain.

What is an upgrade? An upgrade is purchased in addition to any game.

What does the upgrade include? The upgrade includes the printing of the game, any cutting or assembling, and pieces needed (markers, dice, spinners.) We try to match the markers to the game, if possible. For example, Trick or Treat upgrades will include Halloween erasers as markers.

Is there a shipping cost? Yes, there is a low shipping cost for upgrades.

So it would work like this:
- First choose the game you want and add it to your cart.
- Then add the upgrade to your cart.
- If you want 3 games and want them all assembled and shipped, add 3 upgrades to your cart. There is a reduced shipping cost with multiple items.

Also, if you have purchased games from us before and never had a chance to print and assemble them, you can still purchase the upgrades. Just be sure to convo us about which games you purchased at the time you purchase the upgrade(s).

We want to make our games available for as many people as possible. We will always keep the digital downloads available because as teachers, that’s what we would want. But we’ve heard from many parents that it would be easier to have the games assembled and mailed so we want to accommodate everyone’s needs.

Still confused? Leave any questions and I’ll update the original post with answers.

Look forward to a post about new games and a fun thank you to our loyal customers.

Today is your last chance to snag our games at the bargain price of $3.50! The new prices will be in place tomorrow, October 1st. If you tried to snag some games today and some were missing, I’ve now relisted all of the games. I’ll keep an eye on it all night and quickly relist anything that’s sold. Thanks, awesome blog readers!

Check back tomorrow for an exciting announcement about the shop!

day 49: September 22, 2008

Jacob had his anatomy flashcards glued to his hand today but he said he could study and walk so we went on a field trip. We stopped to enjoy the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

day 50: September 23, 2008

Got some love from the nieces (and Heather!) in the mail today. It made me smile! Love those kids and miss them so much!

day 51: September 24, 2008

I went to Central Park in the afternoon to take pictures for the class. When I finished I was trying to walk to Columbus Circle where Jacob was meeting me after class. I didn’t want to dig out my map so I just followed where everyone else was walking. Boy was I surprised when I came around the corner and saw David Blaine hanging upside down! I’d forgotten he was doing a stunt there.

Oh and Heidi I saw this at Borders and took a picture just for you.

day 53: September 25, 2008

I ordered some dice online for something fun we’ve got cooking. I was quite dissapointed when I opened them up and saw that they were micro mini! Now, they did have a size listed in the description, so I can’t be too mad. But the picture was of regular dice!

I went to Brooklyn today. Candice helped with some new pictures for the shop. Thanks! I’ll be updating them in the shop tomorrow.

day 54: September 26, 2008

Back in Brooklyn today to babysit the boys for Candice’s birthday! I helped them make her some birthday cards.

They’re so creative!

day 55: September 27, 2008

Today I went with the NY fam (aka Sarah, Candice and fam) to an apple orchard! That’s the only thing Candice wanted to do for her birthday so off we went. I can’t even describe how fantastic it was to get out of the city. We drove through the most beautiful little towns. It was a foggy day, perfect for taking pictures. We had so much fun! I came back with lots of apples, cider, apple butter, and even some apple cider doughnuts which we enjoyed for breakfast this morning.

I have too many fun pictures to narrow it down, so feel free to skip over them!

(This ended up more Twilight-y than I’d intended. I had Sarah take it for me. We did take an awesome Twilight picture with Sarah holding an apple. I’ll post it if I get it from Candice.)

When we got back, Mark dropped us girls off to see The Women (not so good). Walking around afterwards the buildings looked spectacular in the fog!

day 56: September 28, 2008

Lazy, rainy Sunday today. We finally bought a crockpot and Jacob made a roast. He loves making a Sunday roast! He usually does it once a month.

Don’t forget you still have a couple of days to snag our games at a bargain price at the shop! Prices are good until Wednesday morning, October 1st, at 12:00 AM EST!

I have been having so much fun putting together these Halloween games!

The first is an adorable board game called Trick or Treat. I’m loving this game because it’s made for children of all levels to play. You roll the dice and move your marker. Then you have a choice: add, subtract, or multiply your number with the number on the board! That means you could use this game to practice any of those skills. Even better, you can have children on multiple levels playing this game at the same time, each of them working on the skill appropriate for them. Freaking awesome. (I’m allowed to say that about something I made, right? Good because I did.)

I’m tickled about this one as well. The name of the game is Costume Closet. There’s something special about this one too because it’s 2 games in 1! Sometimes I even amaze myself. So the main idea for this game, the one I originally started with, is attribute sorting. Don’t know what that is? Let me say it in kid terms. It’s a Rummy style game where you sort the characters by something they all have in common. For example, in this picture the top group was sorted by the common attribute that they’re all holding something in their hand. The second group’s common attribute is they each have something on their head.

But wait, there’s more! Have little ones that might not be ready for this sorting game? Just want to get the most bang for your buck? Well that’s where the second game comes in. You can use this game for a simple Halloween matching game because there’s two cards for each character in this set. You can even just use a few characters to make it a simpler game. Loving it.

Now, for the announcement. The time has come for us to raise our prices. We still want to keep our products affordable enough for home and classroom use, because that is the reason we do this. So starting October 1st, 2008 our downloadable games will be priced at $5.00. We wanted to tell you about it first though and give you a chance to purchase before then if you feel so inclined. You are wonderful blog readers and we want to reward you for your kindness!

I hope to have at least 2 more Halloween games in the shop before the prices go up so keep an eye out for that too.

And if you’re in Utah, don’t forget that you can find us at Oh Sweet Sadie again this weekend. For $5.00 you can purchase our games already assembled! That’s a steal so jump on it.

This is what a daily e-mail conversation with my sister is like.

Heidi: I hate Ebay. It’s so lower class.
Me: I hate ebay too.
Heidi: Hyacinth Bucket would never do ebay.
Me: Which is, of course, how I decide whether or not to do something.
Heidi: I also use that as my guide. We must be sisters!

I love my sister. The end!

20 month old Callie was involved in a terrible accident earlier this month. Her family is raising money for her hospital treatment and recovery. We were contacted to donate items for a raffle in her behaf and we were happy to help. If you’d like to participate head to Our Happy Nest. The raffle ends Wednesday.

I just noticed that my Martha post was my 400th post! WOW! I’m so happy to have this blog. At least once a month I see an old blog title and get curious and end up spending an hour reading old post and remembering. It’s a journal but better!

day 35: September 8, 2008

This is pretty much Jacob these days. Not always in bed, but always with a book or laptop in front of him!

day 36: September 9, 2008

And this is pretty much me these days. Working on the shop!

day 37: September 10, 2008

Laundry day. See you there. Underthings. Tumbling. (By the way, did you know you can download the Dr. Horrible soundtrack on itunes now? Oh you bet we’ve been listening to it excessively. )

Our laundromat looks pretty fancy doesn’t it? But wait, you didn’t see the sign above the washers.

And just in case you missed it, let me make it a little more clear.

If that doesn’t say ghetto Harlem, I don’t know what does.

day 38: September 11, 2008

Let me just say that being in New York on September 11th made the whole thing hit home again in a whole new way.

Spent the afternoon with Candice and Mark. Then Sarah and I went to Altar Boyz! Hilarious. Not enough Neil dancing. And hello Neil, I love you! Why didn’t you come out after the show? We waited for you by the karaoke bar. The 3 other Altar Boyz showed. But you never came. I think Sarah’s heart broke a little bit.

And why don’t I have a picture, you ask? That would be because I took a picture of my playbill, sans flash, before the show and this crazy theater lady came and went nutso on me. She demanded to see my camera and I said, “Uh no. I’ll delete it.” Dude. It was a blurry, dark picture of my playbill! RELAX.

day 39: September 12 2008

We ventured to the scary place that is Pathmark for groceries. Of course it was raining. And Pathmark is anything but convenient to us, though cheap. I got soaked. Some Starbucks Apple Cider did redeem the evening somewhat.

day 40: September 13 2008

Made the first cup of hot chocolate of the season. I love fall!

day 41: September 14, 2008

I got to see Jamie! She and Ben came to town for the weekend for Yankees/Mets games. We managed to get a quick hour with them. Don’t mind us posing in the nasty subway!

Later we went to the Stringhams for Sunday dinner. There was a fire on the D line track and our train started running the N route which doesn’t go to their house. Luckily we got within a few stops so after some examing of the map, Mark decided to come get us. Thanks for rescuing us!

Dinner was delish. It’s nice having homecooked food since we’re a little kitchen challenged in our current apartment situation. We played Sequence. They always introduce us to new games. I love Sequence now! That may be related to being on Mark’s team and he always wins games.

day 42: September 15, 2008

Apparently I have no picture today. I’m not sure what happened. I’m pretty that’s the day Candice and I went to Target. I found the duvet cover I’ve been eyeing for 50% off! I snatched it right up. Of course our duvet is in a storage closet in Utah so we won’t be setting it up until after Christmas but that’s ok.

They had some of the fun Halloween stuff out, which we were very excited about. And I saw these fall kitchen towels, placemats, etc. that looked like Orla Keily’s stem pattern. I’m in love. I searched online for them but can’t find any pictures. I want them so bad!

day 43: September 16, 2008

What’s that, you ask? Oh that’s a mouse trap. With peanut butter on it. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a mice problem. Keep reading.

day 44: September 17, 2008

I hope Chloe is reading this because I was talking to her around this time and I told her I’d seen a mouse but it didn’t bother me too much because it was little. Boy did I eat my words when one mouse turned to 5 and counting. Jacob’s been great to take care of it the best he can. He set lots of traps and checked them and took care of it all. But wherever they were getting in, they started bringing friends. I called him home from school TWICE this day. Once because of the one I saw in the living room running around. He came home and chased it into a trap. An hour or so later one appeared in the kitchen and climbed on the stove! I’d handled it fairly well until this point but that’s when I completely lost it. I called him in hysterical tears and he rushed home and took care of that one as well. Bless his heart for dealing with me. While waiting for him to come home I was online searching for flights back to Utah! I was so done. But he stayed home and watched his last lecture on the computer so he could “guard” me. I set up camp on the bed the rest of the day.

You may notice the bag of peanut m&ms. It was all I ate that day until 9 PM. I was too scared to go in the kitchen!

And I really did buy a ticket back to Utah that day, but just for Christmas. I’m excited! Thanks Mom & Dad!

day 45: September 18, 2008

Martha day! I was quite happy to get out of the house today. It was really fun to go to a taping of Martha. She’s actually a lot more personable in person. And, might I add, thinner looking, which surprised me! The guests were Terrence Howard and Jane Goodall. We left with a Martha myiachi, Terrence Howard’s cd, and organic coffee and chocolate from Jane Goodall. It wasn’t the most exciting show (we should have been a day earlier for the blogging show!!) but it was still really fun to be there. And like I said, they totally showed us on TV! I need to take a picture of it on my tv to show those of you who missed it. It was funny.

That last picture is after the show when she did a little Q&A. We watched her film some promos and it was funny to see her messing up. And getting mad at her staff for messing things up! Scary. It was a fun experience.

day 46: September 19, 2008

Went to the park today to enjoy the spectacular weather and take some photos for my assignment in Candice’s class. (Loving it by the way and you should all take it if you get a chance.) I went to my fav Conservatory Gardens and caught this couple…also enjoying the weather. And they’re totally in their 50s by the by. They were there when I got there and just walking out when I came back out an hour later! They were super cute though and I thought it was sweet.

An afternoon walking around the park in 65 degree weather listening to the new Joshua Radin album (which has been on my ipod nonstop) was my idea of the perfect New York day.

day 47: September 20, 2008

Went to B-town for Grant’s baptism! Congrats buddy! Forgot that I hadn’t taken a picture until we were walking to the subway so I snapped this picture of their church.

day 48: September 21, 2008

Had a fabulous Sunday today. Jacob had to leave church early for a test review at school. Lame but he had to go. So I decided to walk home after church (rather than take the subway) and enjoy the weather, see some new parts of Harlem, and take some photos. This girl from the ward saw me and we walked together and chatted. Harlem is bustling on Sundays. Especially today since there was some kind of parade going on! I took a photo of the church since people always wonder where we meet. It’s a real building, just on several floors. It’s like the Manhattan temple in that it’s built ona corner of a building, right in the middle of a busy area.

I talked Jacob into taking his anatomy flashcards to the park for a walk in the afternoon. The lighting was great so I took some more photos of the gardens! I could go there everyday and be happy.

Isn’t this birdbath awesome?? I love it.

Everytime I see this fountain I have to take a picture. Still trying to get a really fabulous one.

If we have to live in an apartment with mice at least we live close to a beautiful park.