Picture book, pictures of your Mama, taken by your Papa, a long time ago.....

I can't...get this song...out of ...my head....

At least it's a great song.

Go here and click under "PictureBook" to see what I'm talking about.

Black Friday

Have you ever heard of Black Friday? That is what a lot of people are referring to the day after Thanksgiving as. Apparently it has something to do with retailers getting out of the red and into the black on that day. It could also have something to do with it being the busiest shopping day of the year, but according to Snopes that's simply not true. A few years ago my dad and I went to our local Wally World and stood in line at 6am so I could get a good deal on a TV. Since then it seems to have grown into a national holiday.

I do have to admit that over the last few years I have gotten up before the crack of dawn and headed to the nearest store to cash in on some of their deals on electronics. (Hey, when a person needs a new TV and it's DIRT CHEAP at 6 in the morning then why not?) Last year I dragged my husband along to help me get a new computer and a new sewing machine. We had a blast! He was amazed at how crazy people got over these sales.

I used to go to Wally World to see Holly's husband at work, but unfortunately this year they have nothing I want and he's not really "there" anymore. After scouring the black Friday ads I think I have decided to forget black Friday. Instead I'll make a stop at the big red K on my way out of town tomorrow to cash in on the Martha Stewart bed pillows for $1.99!!! We need 4!!

I got this here rock....

I work at a science museum. A semi-prestigious, somewhat snooty science museum. Now, I’m not a science person by any means, I’m more of a history person myself. Yet it boggles my mind every day as to the crazy comments or demands people make of us.

For example, a couple of weeks ago the Northern Lights were really visible here in Michigan. Everybody and their brother called wanting to know why they couldn’t see them. Funny how city lights work, but you needed to get quite a ways out of the city to see them at all. It was hilarious to me that these city dwellers thought that a suburb was the “country.” I also got a phone call from a woman who wanted to know if the northern lights were a sign of gloom and doom because, well, people in Europe claimed they saw the northern lights the night before Hitler marched on Poland and she was wondering if something like that was going to happen to us. (yeah, I would know that.)

I am also truly amazed at the people who find rocks in their yards and automatically assume they are meteorites that fell from the sky and think we will pay them money for them. I got news for you, if you can lift it up it probably isn’t a meteorite. Oh, and rocks come from the ground as well as the sky.

The best one ever was when a public school teacher called upset because we had put her children in a program called “Extinct and Endangered Animals”. “If I wanted my children to see extinct animals, “ the teacher screamed at me, “I would have taken them to the zoo!!” Uh, yeah, you do that because if the zoo housed extinct animals we’d all be there.

So you see, idiots are everywhere, no matter what your income level or education is. Someday I’ll tell you all about the Astronomy geeks that come out of the woodwork by the thousands when any kind of eclipse is going on. You’d think the Beatles were having a second coming the way people act for those.

Sorry Everybody

This is too damn funny.

Yet extremely powerful. Be sure and click on "gallery" and scroll down.

Detroit Docs International Film Festival 2004

On Saturday I went to the Detroit Docs International Film Festival. It was great! I attended one “session” that included two films about collecting- “Other People’s Pictures” and “Dishes”. “Other People’s Pictures” was very interesting. It was about 9 different collectors who collect, well, other people’s pictures. It sounded kind of strange but after seeing the film I understand why they do it now. “Dishes”, on the other hand, was fabulous! It was funny, informative and thought provoking. I highly recommend it, especially if you are into collecting anything, really like Fiesta or don’t understand collecting at all. (If you collect Fiesta you really need to own this movie.) I even got to meet the filmmaker after the viewing. How often does that happen?

The film got me thinking about why I like and am starting to collect Fiesta. Well, I’ve always liked Fiesta, especially because of the retro, kitchy feeling that comes with it. I never could afford it though because the prices are OUTRAGOUS for the vintage stuff. I didn’t even realize they had started making it again until I went about setting up my bridal registry last year. (I was in high school and college in the late 80’s and 90’s so I really wasn’t paying much attention to popular dish patterns.) And then it hit me……

Fiestaware is my rebellion against china patterns.

Plus it looks fabulous in my black and white kitchen.

I must go here

I've heard about this place three times in the last 2 weeks so I'm sure it's a sign. Kate Pierson of the B-52's has opened a kitchy motel in the Catskill Mountains called Kate's Lazy Meadow Motel. Check out the rooms! This place is sooo up my alley. Now, to find a reason to go to the Catskills and drop that kind of money.....

Choo choo!

Go see the Polar Express movie this weekend. Not only is the author from Michigan, but the actual train is from my hometown! Apparently, the author used to play on the train when he was a little kid. Thus, he used it for his model for a children's book. If you click on the link for the train, there is a sidebar to the right that talks about it and how Skywalker Sounds came this summer to record the actual noises the train makes for the movie. How cool is that??

All Tied Up

Check out the unique ways you can recycle men's ties. I found this site on a frugal message board I go to when a member asked for uses for old ties. I collected old ties in high school and turned them into patchwork pillows but god only knows what happened to them. I'd thought about making a skirt but I didn't think it would fly on a plus sized lady like myself. Oooohhhh, maybe for my niece....

Finally

We have finally moved. After darn near four months of living surrounded by boxes and having my whole life on hold we have finally settled somewhere. Granted, I am still surrounded by boxes and have to sit on the floor in order to use the computer but oh well. At least I can unpack the boxes and get settled.