30 Days of Night: Eben & Stella #3 Cover

Originally uploaded by Kelly Sue.

Out today, I believe –
MAY073553 30 DAYS OF NIGHT EBEN & STELLA #3 (MR) $3.99
Steve Niles, Kelly Sue DeConnick (w); Justin Randall (a & c)

In this third chapter in the latest saga of Eben and Stella, war parties converge. Vampire-hunters Kevin and Alice each bring their talents to bear on the battlefield—Alice provides generations of combat expertise and weaponry, Kevin chips in technical expertise and new media prowess. And… nothing goes according to plan. If Kevin’s to survive, Alice is going to need to reach whatever humanity is left in Stella.

See also:
MAY072148 PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #9 CWI $2.99 wherein Fraction says “Tragedy reigns and laughter dies.”

Over there on the right — my current contribution to Fraction‘s DESKSET on Flickr.

• Nested is a new shopping blog for baby and kid stuff. So far so good — I love the pointers to Nightmare Catcher Journals and Hand Knit Booties that look like Doc Martins.
• Take Your Jacket Off: Are you reading Kathryn and Stuart Immonen’s Moving Pictures webcomic? I’m thoroughly intrigued. Also, Kathryn is my current girl crush. If she sees how I’ve been writing her name over and over again in my notebook I’ll just die.
• I love the days between when you get birthday money and when you spend it. It’s a magic time when you can fantasize guilt-free about all the silly little things you could buy but since you haven’t actually done anything yet, the dollar figure never registers a change. I collect (well, it’s a new collection — I have only 3 thus far) brightly colored tea cups. The rules are: they have to have a matching saucer, they have to have gold trim and they have to cost me less than $10 each. I had ebay alerts this morning for two that make me consider throwing out the budget constriction for the sake of birthday bliss. This one and this one. The Aynsley ones are always really good and always over budget.
• Shit. Speaking of budgets, I just remembered we have an appt today to discuss life insurance. $@%$#@%$#@.
• Droob wrote this morning to point out that McSweeney’s is hurting. If you’re thinking about subscribing or buying books, they say now would be a good time.
• Can’t say I’m particularly blue to hear Jane is going under. I loved Sassy, but Jane always rode my nerves.
• Via WhipUp — this blog shows you how to crochet little amigurumi dolls that, it occurs to me, could easily be made into Duruma dolls. Part One. Part Two. (Instructions, I should mention, are in Spanish. Which is probably good news for me as I’m not exactly sitting on my hands and if the instructions were in English I fear I’d have a hard time resisting.)
• Do you know of my love for fresh figs? The cupcake bakeshop just posted a new recipe I’m going to have to try out at some point.
• Laurenn‘s been putting up some fantastic photos from Dr. Sketchy’s Kansas City. I haven’t been as I don’t, you know, draw, drink or get off the couch past 10 pm, but it looks like they’re somehow managing to have a good time without me. Such troopers! If you’re local, you should go check it out.
• Adrian wrote this morning to share her enthusiasm for The Bearded Men. Like me, she has particular fondness for The Bearded Men in Striped Shirts.  She passed along this link in case I wanted to try and get Fraction to play dress up.

So, So Happy: As I write this, I am caught up* on work deadlines for, I think, the first time since March. Despite the fact that I have 9,000 other things to do and I am generally overwhelmed, it feels goooood. At least at this moment, I owe apologies to zero editors, which is nice. I want to go get a pedicure to celebrate, but alas, there’s busywork to be done.

(*I may have been caught up at some point before but not with any real chance of staying caught up. It’s realistic this time. I also feel compelled to confess that I am still over deadline on one project, but as it’s unpaid and only 8 pages, I’m giving myself permission to declare me “All Caught Up.”)

Mark Your Calendar: August 25th signing at the Star Clipper in St. Louis.

Counting Down: 6 days till next deadline, 6 days till birthday, 12 days till baby shower, 16 days till Nerd Prom, 74 days till due date. (The American Pregnancy Association sent an e-mail this morning to worn me that I might start experiencing mood swings and a short temper in the coming days and weeks… I think I’d figured that part out. Thanks.)

The Kitchen: The cabinet guys finished up today — hardware is installed, as are trim and toekicks. I’ll post pictures tomorrow.

The Nursery: Fraction and I are very seriously considering getting a few of ashley g’s bearded men prints for the kid’s room. In addition to adoring Ashley and Drew, we’re utterly charmed by their weird little hairy men. We’re also thinking about taking down some of the shelves in that room. It’s more work, which is a real bummer at this point, but it would make space for a glider, which would be grand. (Especially since Tobi and Michael offered us their old one and you can’t beat that price.)

Knitting: I’ve done none of late. Wah. Nikol, on the other hand, has been knitting up a proverbial storm in preparation for the Naughty Needles Burlesque Revue (details in link) on the 13th. I really want to go if I’ve got the energy on Friday night. Alas, my body kind of gives out around 9:00 these days and I’m not good for much more than hanging out on the couch. We’ll see. (We’ve talked to another couple about going with us, but they’re pregnant with TWINS, so they’re playing it by ear too.)

Pownce: I haven’t quite figured out what it is just yet, and I haven’t tons of spare time to explore, but if anyone wants an invitation, I’ve got four.

Tomorrow: I’m going swimming, dammit. I also need to hit the bank, run a few errands, answer a shit-ton of e-mails, do some filing, finish the laundry, do a translation check, merge calendars, install QuickBooks, fill out some paperwork and hit the post office. When I started writing this part I thought I’d carve out some time for that pedicure, but it’s not looking good, is it?

Kitchen Progress: The new floors are in! I took four pictures — two with the flash and two without. The floor color is most accurate without the flash, but it’s also harder to see. Anyway, click through if you’re following the minutia of our remodel.

Nursery Progress: Next to none, really. We just haven’t had time. That said, my grandfather sent us a little money for the shower so we used it to buy the kid’s crib mattress. That’s on its way. Oh, and I had my eye on this lamp or this lamp — both from Paperwhite, but I needed something a little cheaper. We found one we liked today at Home Depot (of all places) for a whopping $39, so we got that. We’ll probably need to have an electrician install it — oh, crap! That reminds me, I meant to get a dimmer switch. Dammit. Anyway, I’ll post pictures once it’s up. (Oh, and since it’ll hang right over the crib, we need one of those light bulbs that looks like the bottom was dipped in paint. You know the kind I mean? “The Depot,” (that’s what Chad the Carpenter calls it) no longer carries them, apparently.)

The kid’s doing well, measuring just the right size, strong healthy heartbeat — even good positioning.  Don’t click through if you’re avoiding learning the gender.  If you know or don’t mind finding out — there are more photos up on Flickr.  And movies on Vimeo.

What?

• Happy happy, girlie. Have fun at the movies.
• 
• Everybody sick of posts about the Kitchen Remodel? Awesome. Because we’re only about half way through. The cabinets are in — for the most part — and the countertop has been templated. The tile guys start on the floors tomorrow. They should finish up on Monday, at which point the cabinet guys will come back and finish the trim and hardware and such.
• Fraction sent me this link to a NYTimes slideshow of people and their avatars. I am much amused.
• Danyon Davis was the point on the map where our lives intersected before Fraction and I ever knew one another. He’s also a peach, a stunningly, handsome devil and an Actor-with-a-capital-A. He just did a really fun project for HBO called VOYEUR that is up on multiple-platforms, but, he suggests, is perhaps best viewed on the net.
• FinnStyle is having a Merimekko clearance sale. I love Merimekko.
• Rebecca sent this link as a clever suggestion for our giraffe-in-the-nursery dilemma.
• Is this what I think it is? I think it’s a monkey pants softie. (Florspace blog.)
• I love post-it notes almost as much as I love 3×5 cards… but not quite.
• Finally, Merlin Mann‘s current series is My War On Clutter. This is a little frightening to me as I have a love-hate relationship with my clutter (Fraction: “It’s like you were born in the Depression.”), but I took a babystep by using some of my birthday money (yeah, I know it’s not my birthday yet, but my Pop sent a check early) on the audiobook version of It’s All Too Much.

• Go read: Paul Gravett on the New York Times’ dismissal of manga as “those Japanese comic books that feature slender, wide-eyed teenage girls who seem to have a special fondness for sailor suits.”
• The upper kitchen cabinets are in, the lower cabinets and pulls go in today. The guys have tomorrow off for the holiday, then the tile people start on Thursday. The cabinetry looks great. I’m especially enamored of the large cabinet over the refrigerator that’s divided vertically for trays and platters. We’re so fancy! Flickr photos of progress to date here. (We’re going to do a PB Teen tile thing next to the door as an organizer. I should probably order that soon.)
• Claude had an “accident” in the kitchen last night after dinner. Since there’s no evidence he’s feeling ill anymore, we decided he’s confused by the upheaval and thinks the kitchen is now “outside.” So we put the baby gate up before bed last night, blocking his access and that seemed to work. Hallelujah. Everything with that dog is two steps forward, one step back.
• Jason Aaron posted a few pictures from Tony Moore’s Bachelor Party: Day Two.
• Have you ever heard of Monkey Pants? Apparently it’s a Japanese thing. Holy crap they do excel at cute, don’t they? I lost about half an hour last night scouring the internets (and ebay in particular) for variations on monkey pants. These might be my favorites. Hard to say. If you turn up any cute ones, post links, will you?
• Baby news: the kid is cRaZy active these days — doing gymnastics in my belly, I think. It’s pretty fun, except for the poking at my pelvic floor. Ow, my aching vagina.
• We have our gestational diabetes test and 3d ultrasound on Thursday and apparently I’m nervous about it as I dreamed last night that we saw the baby’s face and it looked like some kind of hideous Simpsons baby monster — imagine Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel as an infant, in utero. Snaggletooth, unibrow, mustache camp, Christian Bale chin — I was horrified. I freaked, trying to figure out how it must be some kind of mistake… (“Is it time to start drinking again?” asks Fraction.) Eep. Does the fact that I’m apparently worried about having an ugly baby make me shallow? Or was I just shallow to begin with?
• ETA: Repro Depot appears to be out of the Amy Butler Nappy Bag pattern. Does anyone know of another source? SECOND EDIT: Terry found it!  Thanks, T2.  (Other Nappy bags on Flickr.  I figure I’m going to be sewing curtains as soon as I have a diningroom table again anyway…)

It’s all happening! It’s all happening!

• The kitchen cabinets are here and being installed this very minute. They look great — I’m so, so pleased. I’ll take more pictures this evening.
• The dog trainer came yesterday morning and worked with us and Claude for four hours. Seriously: I’m already noticing improvements. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I think with consistency and patience we can get him to where he needs to be before the baby comes. The trainer returns in 2 weeks. In the meantime, we have this doll he left that cries and is generally intended to get Claude and Applejack ready for what’s coming. We’re mesmerized by the little guy.  When I called Fraction yesterday on my way to Target, he was whispering on the phone… because Robot Baby was sleeping.
• Speaking of, baby gifts have started to arrive! It’s so fun; it suddenly seems… real. (I’m sure the increased intensity of the kicking has contributed to the “realness” factor as well.) That photo up there is of some beautifully wrapped presents from Danni and Rick Remender. (Danni’s handwriting is cute, cute, cute, by the way.) In the corner, there are some red flower bath samples for the babymama that Ms. Kathryn was kind enough to pass along. (And she rubber stamped the envelope! I love stamps. I miss my stamps. Once day I’ll have a craft area… somewhere. In the attic or the basement, I guess.) I used the Moroccan mint tea silt purifier this morning and I smell diviiiine. I also went out yesterday and bought three packages of diapers. (We had coupons that were about to expire.) And, as if that weren’t enough we took a pediatric CPR class last night and got a glimpse of everything we’ll worry about for the next, oh, 12 years or so. (Fraction and I each gave CPR to a robot baby. I’m happy to report that they both pulled through.)
• Did you know there’s a Domino magazine pool on Flickr?
• Thrifty Mommy makes some suggestions for dealing with mosquitoes.
  
• I need this poster! In all sincerity: I want. I just need to figure out where to put it.