Shrooms

What a novel idea! Here’s how to make magical mushrooms for your backyard out of left over concrete via ljcfyi.

For some reason I am semi-obsessed with cute things in my yard. Not tacky, country looking knicky knacks but cool, creative things that make you think of Alice in Wonderland or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have the spring rider now, I could easily make the mushrooms and I’m still working on a way to make these. And in the hunt of looking for a picture of the cushions, I found these stepping stones that look like sweet tarts to me. Along with my gnomes, my faucet on a stick with gems dripping from it and a funky fresh patio chair from the 1950’s I’m good to go in my magical garden! Now, if only it would cool down a bit so that I could step outside without suffocating……..

Lazy Summer Days

We had a slow, uneventful weekend. Friday night I headed to the Greater Owosso area to pick up my friend Amy and to meet the rest of our entourage at the Cavalier Bar in Corunna. What’s truly sad is that there is no mention of the Cavalier Bar on the internet to link to. (I don’t call a listing of local bars and restaurants a true “mention”.) That just goes to show you how small this bar (and town) really are. While at the bar catching up with friends I learned that I am going to be attending the 15 year class reunion of the grade below me this fall- there’s a group of friends going, they want me to go and I said “But of course! Reunions are a blast when they aren’t your own!”

Saturday the husband was at work (Overtime! Hoorah!) and I was left at home to make the dishes we were to take to his family reunion later in the afternoon. Do you ever have one of those days where no mater what you do nothing turns out? Well……I went to 4 stores looking for overripe avocados and no one had ANY AVOCADOS AT ALL. Since avocados are THE key ingredient in my killer Guacamole (See the Moosewood Cookbook for that recipe) I didn’t make any. Then I was going to make these delicious saltine cracker/toffee type cookies as an inside joke with one of my husband’s aunts. (long story…….) Also not a good idea. Let’s just say that any type of baked good should truly be left for the holidays.

So I showed up at the reunion empty handed. I felt bad but no one seemed to notice or care. I met my husband there and we spent the next few hours swimming, boating, jetskiing, tubing and general debauchery . It was fun but it also felt good to get home.

Sunday was a lazy, lazy day. I stayed indoors all day and was happy to do so because the one time I opened my front door it felt like I was walking into a steel furnace. We had vouchers/tickets to the “ABBA: the music” show at Pine Knob but due to not wanting to be miserable we decided not to go. So we watched a few movies, chilled out and just…stayed….home.

Waaaaa!!!

I want a celebrity to deliver my Amazon packages to ME!!! Wow, what would I order to get that celebrity to my door….hmmmmm……this is harder than I thought. Wouldn’t it just suck to be ordering something as a gift for a friend and you really can’t stand that movie star but they deliver it to you all giddy with delight to be making a fan’s day when in all actuality you hate that person and are pained to even say hello to them? Yeah, that would be me. That would be like me ordering something Star Wars for Holly and having any of the actors deliver it to me and I’d be standing at the door sayin' “And you are........?” Yeah, that wouldn't be cool.

I notice that all of the winners are geographically located within a stone’s throw of the celebrities’ homes. Nice. Well, that counts me out unless I want to order something by Eminem or Kid Rock. Then I might stand a chance.

WTF Friday v.7.22.05

Pringles. They have always been my most favorite potato chip. Check out all of the bizzarro flavors you can find all over the world. I’ve actually tried the Curry flavored ones when a friend brought them back from the UK for me. (I can’t stand curry so I wasn’t too fond of them, but my husband really enjoyed them.) In a few weeks I’ll be going to Canada where I’m sure I’ll be able to find the Ketchup flavored ones. (Canada is Queen of the ketchup flavored chips.) But come on……
Spring Onion and Feta?
Grilled Shrimp and Pepper?
Winter BBQ? (What exactly would that be? And what makes it “winter” as opposed to “summer”?)
French Consomme?
And nowhere on the net have I found a translation for Oranjekaas, which kind of scares me.

Dear Jude Law, Halle Berry’s Ex and any other man that openly cheats on their gorgeous wife, girlfriend or S.O…….

Why? What possesses you to do it? Do you think there aren’t going to be any repercussions from it? Do you not realize the number of lives you are going to destroy/ruin/harm in the process? Aren’t you afraid of diseases? Why do you even bother with normal type relationships if you know you’re going to eventually look elsewhere? Or are you that self centered that you just don’t care?

WHY?????? OK, I’m done with my "I'm a sex addict"/wife cheater rant for now…….

Garage Sale Scores v.7.16.05

Remember these? They had a ton of them at McCurdy Park in Corunna when I was growing up. They are officially called “spring riders” and the ones I played on weren’t these cheap plastic things, either. They were made out of heavy duty fiberglass and were built to last a lifetime. Well……..

A number of years ago the city tore up the old playground to build a Playscape. They auctioned off all of the old playground equipment and I desperately wanted one of those spring riders. I don’t know why, I just did. At the time it wasn’t feasible- I had recently graduated from college and was back home and had nowhere to store it and yadda, yadda, yadda so I never got one. Until this past weekend.

My garage sale partner for the day was my dad and we were scouring a neighborhood sale north of town when I saw it- a spring rider in someone’s yard with a tag on it. I gasped. I freaked. I went straight to it and said I wanted it. My dad just laughed at me and walked away. I was letting common sense get the better of me so I followed him. As he was asking me what the hell I would do with such a thing he starts to tell me that he was looking for one, too, when my brothers and I were little. WHA??? And you’re thinking I’m weird for wanting one?? I immediately turned around and offered the guy $15 dollars for it. He accepted the offer and as I was lifting it into my dad’s truck (it’s fiberglass), the garage sale guy started to tell me how he bought at the McCurdy Park auction years ago.

What kind of animal is it you might ask? Well, my dad and my husband say it’s a porpoise but I think it may have been a dolphin. It’s a weird, general shape that could have been a multitude of animals really, it just needs a really good paint job to define it more. I know, I know, we don’t even have kids so what are we doing with this thing? Someday we will and when we do, we will be the coolest, hippest parents around.

Some day I’ll get my digital camera working and I’ll be able to post all of my garage sale finds or projects I’m doing. I can’t even remember what else I found garage saling because the spring rider outshined everything else I found. Oh and I have to tell you, my brothers are sooooo jealous. Who’d have thought they wanted one too!

WTF Friday, or rather, what the hell were you thinking??

I know knitting is getting rather popular these days. I, too, tried it out in my neverending quest for craft. It's just not my cup of tea. To each his own but I still respect anyone for attempting to craft. In my search of all things crafty, I came across this blog- You Knit What?? - a tribute to really bad knitting ideas. Check it out. It's rather funny and I have a few vintage craft books I'll be scanning and submitting as well. (The men's Granny Square necktie is the first to come to mind, but that's crochet, not knitting, right?)

Also, in an attempt to make sure I blog more, I am going to start partaking in "WTF Fridays". I see other people are doing it but I can't find an explaination anywhere. Oh, well. I'm sure you can figure it out. I figure I do enough WTF??? posts (So many things in life make me go "WTF??") that I shouldn't have a problem with this, right? We'll see. I am inspired to do so from Loobylu's Illustration Friday and A Month of Softies, two ongoing projects I would love to take part in but really, who's got the time? Not me. So I'll just stick to bitching about things on Fridays, thankyouverymuch.

Apology Accepted

Remember last fall when I linked to a site called "Sorry Everybody" and it consisted of pictures of (mostly) Americans holding up signs saying they were sorry about the election? Well…….did you know that they compiled all of those images and turned it into a book?
and a music CD?? The more I think about it, the more the history geek inside of me is telling me this would be a great book to have for the future.

Now there is a response to the website. “Apologies Accepted. com” is posting the pictures of non-American people saying they accept our apology. This, too, is supposed to be made into a book. I don’t think I’ll be running out to buy that one although the images are just as touching and disturbing as the other one. The picture I remember the most is of Singapore teenagers holding up a sign that says “apology accepted” and “at least you can vote for your President.”

My Makeup Smells Like Food

See, I knew I’d get your attention.

I’ve noticed more and more lately that my makeup has very distinct smells, and the longer I have the makeup the more they smell. And the more they smell like food.

For example, my mascara smells like vinegar. I’ve used this brand of mascara since high school and only now am I noticing that it smells like vinegar. And the older the tube gets the more it smells like vinegar. Ick. (L’oreal Lash Out for those interested.)

I recently purchased a new type of lipstick. It smells like chocolate. Seriously. I even dug out my tube of chocolate lip balm to compare and my lipstick smells like it more. (It’s a new type by Rimmel that comes in a “bullet” looking tube and it’s “megaccino” colored. I thought the “megaccino” might have something to do with it but I checked, they all smell like that.)

Hmmm……..I wonder what’s up with that.

Midlife Crisis

I think my father is going through a midlife crisis. Wait a minute…he’s in his 60’s so is that really the time for a midlife crisis?? Anyway, my father bought a sailboat last week. A 27 foot, massively huge sailboat. Kudos to him is what I say. He has wanted one and drooled over them since I was a baby and now he’s finally got one. It’s tied to a dock on Lake Huron right now and soon it will be tied to a dock in my brother’s backyard. It still needs some work.

Oh, and a big “thank you” goes out to the ex-lawyer that had to sell the sailboat for next to nothing so he could pay for the rehab visit he’s admitting himself into. A big MWAH to you!! Thanks!

How Horrible

I can't help thinking about it. My ear is glued to the BBC Radio 1 via the internet. I can't seem to load the live news from there for obvious reasons. My heart goes out to the entire city.

On the BBC news site they said the electric signs leading into the city read the following-
"Avoid London. Area closed. Turn on radio."

Can you imagine driving into work one day without a care in the world to see that sign ahead? Chills I tell you. It gives me nothing but chills.

Live 8

I've got a wild hair up my ass to take off tonight for the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario. (Barrie is slightly closer to me than the U.S. show in Philly.) Gawd, I have been listening too much to the BBC because all they've been talking about is the London show. Of course the London show sounds fabulous compared to the rest of the shows. Yeah, maybe not. I do like a good road trip now and then though......

Tomorrow I'm taking my niece, The Princess, out for her birthday date. Every year for their birthdays I take my niece and nephew to some sort of children's museum and then to lunch anywhere they want to go. (It's usually McDonald's.) Other than that I truly have no plans for the weekend besides working on my basement rec room. Fun!