Magic Car

Yes, we have a magic car!!

The background:  At least 6 months ago, my husband and I were on a little road trip and somehow he dropped a nickel into the vent in the driver's side dashboard.  Me, having the wonderful luck that I do, figured it would somehow manage to find its way to some electrical part and short-circuit the entire vehicle...or make it burst into flames.  I do have an active imagination!

But it didn't and we didn't hear from it until last week when my husband started noticing a rolling and clunking sound every time he made a turn.  So, he decided he was going to try everything he could to retrieve it.  He took the car for several spins around the neighborhood until he was fairly certain the nickel was near the vent opening.  Then he popped off the vent cover with a screwdriver and started searching around with a flashlight to see if he could locate it.  Well, he saw it and was able to pull it out.

But when he looked at the coin in his hand, it was a dime, not a nickel.

Moral of the story:  We figure we have a magic car on our hands that changes nickels into dimes.  We are going to try a 50 dollar bill tonight!  :)

This is NOT our car, but isn't she a bute!!!

Red Beet and Lemon Poppyseed Ice Cream

Yeah, I thought I would catch your attention if I started with that title, but I'll get to that bit in a moment.  First of all, I wanted to thank you all for wishing me luck with the walk.  I came in ninth overall (out of around 100) and first for my age group, so I was pretty darn happy :)  It was all for raising money for the animals and I had a great time.

To celebrate, my husband and I went to Columbus, OH on Sunday and finally got to experience Jeni's Ice Cream.  Something I haven't told all you bloggers yet:  I'm a HUGE ice cream lover!!!  I've been hearing about Jeni's for awhile and knew I needed to taste it.  She has several locations, and they are all cute, but I absolutely love the one in North Market.  I adore historic food markets anyway, and this one did not disappoint. 

What about the ice cream, you ask?  UNBELIEVABLE!!

I sampled almost all of the flavors and I loved them all.  There were two that were a little too spicy (crazy, I know, to be talking about ice cream) for me to have a whole scoop, but all had amazing flavor.  She's not outrageous just to be outrageous.  Jeni really comes up with the BEST flavors that you may not get at any other ice cream parlor.  So, my favorites: definitely the red beet with lemon and poppy seed (like a wonderful dairy version of the best lemon poppy seed muffin ever, with just a hint of some sweet beet flavor - not to mention a beautiful purplish-red color!), goat cheese with roasted red cherries, and sweet corn with black raspberry (yes, you can really see fragments of corn in there!!).  Wow!  If you love ice cream, you can check out her blog here, and see what you think.

Talk then Walk

I only have a few seconds before I have to scurry off to the fundraiser walk, but I wanted to thank you for putting up with the "corny" joke last night.

Also, MY BIG NEWS:
EnviroMental included me in her treasury of Etsy Paper Team Friends!  It's my first treasury and I'm SUPER excited!!!  You can go to it by clicking here.

You should definitely check EnviroMental's shop out too, if you haven't done so already.  Being from the Midwest and a lover of maps, this is my favorite thing:

but everything in the shop is awesome!!!!  Click on the bangle above to take you to her shop.

Fearless Friday

I have only a little over an hour to get this post in and I have no idea how coherrent I can be after a REALLY long day of work.  I was so busy, I didn't have time to do anything fearless (unless I can count sitting next to several kids that are already sick for the season).  But tomorrow, I'm going to powerwalk 5K for a local nature preserve fundraiser.  It's supposed to be pouring in the morning, but I really want to make the top 3 positions, so I'll try to be fearless and forget about the rain...does that count??

Well, how 'bout if we make this Fun Friday instead and I'll tell you a joke (I'm making it a brunette joke since I'm brunette and I don't want to offend any blondes):

A brunette girl decides to do a puzzle so she grabs the puzzle and pours out all the peices and tries to put it together....

After a while of trying she gets frustrated and calls her boyfriend...


Her boyfriend says: Honey what's wrong?


The brunette says: I'm trying to put this puzzle together but I can't do it.


Her boyfriend says: Well look at the picture in the front and tell me what it looks like.


The brunette says: Okay... well the background is blue and there is a tiger on it.


Her boyfriend says: Honey... put the cornflakes back in the box.

It may be a groaner, but it's the best I can do at this late moment :)  I promise I'll be better next time.

Did I do that?????

I'm missing all the little avatars of my followers and I'm hoping it's not something I did! I never know what I might have been messing up as I experiment with all the widgets I can add, but I'm hoping it's one of those classic technological malfunctions that will correct itself soon.

While I try to figure that out, I'll tell you how excited I am that we were able to get tickets to the first two home games of the baseball post-season, as long as the Tigers can stay ahead of the Twins ****knocking on wood all over the place!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spooky Fortunes

Happy First Day of Fall, Everone!!!

I love fall, which is weird because I also love hot, humid weather (the hotter, the better) and autumn in Michigan doesn't usually bring that weather.  But I also LOVE the crisp smell of the fall days and the romanticism of snuggling under a blanket to watch the local high school football games.  I love apples and colorful leaves and osage oranges...trips to the cider mill and lightweight jackets.  And then there's Halloween - I love Halloween and all its fun and magic.  I'm having a blast thinking of Halloween themed things for my shop.  My newest additions are these spooky fortunes :

Something funny to get your week off to the right start

One of my fellow Etsians pointed me in the direction of this funny thread: Name one amusing thing that you've learned from your craft..."
www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6252765


That got me thinking about a story I have that involves art, although I was still teaching at an elementary school at the time. The art teacher had dropped off several different paper bag puppets (think Fandango puppets, but soooooooooooooo much cuter!) that my students had made in her art class. Most had names but one lone puppet did not. I thought it might have been Alexandra's since she had not claimed one yet. When I asked her, she replied with, "No...my mom has foot fungus." Well, I didn't know what to make of that. Was she really upset and needed consoling? I just stood there dumbfounded for several seconds until she came to my rescue. She must have understood my confusion and finally told me that her puppet's name was Foot Fungus, and her mom had already picked it up earlier in the day. It just goes to show you how important naming your art can be...because I have NEVER forgotten her puppet's name after all these years :)

ob-la-di, ob-la-da

I have just had a couple of wonderful days...you know the ones, where nothing in and of itself is just mindblowing, just a string of really nice events that make you feel good all over.  I won't bore you with everything but I do have to tell you of two things.
First, if you are a Beatles fan at all then I definitely suggest you listen to the newly remastered albums.  My husband just surprised me with the White Album today and it sounds great...much different than my old copied tape version I had from college:)
Second, the Martha Stewart special edition Halloween magazine is out in bookstands now.  This is one of my favorite things to look at every year even if I never get around to doing a quarter of what it shows.  I'm just happy thumbing through the photos.
I hope your weekends are happy too!

Fearless Friday

On this Friday, I would like to showcase a man who truly exhibits fearlessness - a man who has more poise and grace at almost 92 years of age than I can ever hope for.  If you live in the Detroit area, then you certainly know of Ernie Harwell.  He was the Detroit Tigers announcer for many years and a national announcer as well.  He also has been diagnosed with incurable cancer.  Even if you don't live here, you may still know of Ernie (especially if you are a baseball fan).  And although I didn't grow up here and wasn't really a Tigers fan (well sort of a Tigers fan because Magnum PI always wore their cap!), it didn't take me long after I moved here to realize what this man means to the city and humankind in general.  He addressed the fans on Wednesday and I wanted to share it with you here.  Don't worry - it's not too much of a tear-jerker; it's more of a celebration of a wonderful life!

Fall into Flowers

I've added quite a few flowers on http://www.gigigoods.etsy.com/

Check them out; they're perfect for adding some color to your house or party favors, place cards, gift decorations, etc.

*mention this blog and you'll receive 10% off any group of flowers you buy*

Another give-away everyone should know about

I promise I won't bombard you with give-aways, but I had to let everyone know about this one because it's from one of my favorite Etsians, Grace Hester Designs.  Go to her blog to participate in this wonderful contest - http://gracehester.typepad.com/weblog/2009/09/giveaway-for-18-x-24-poster-print.html
and then visit her shop at gracehesterdesigns.etsy.com to see all of her artwork - it is so sweet, it'll make you melt!!  This is one of my favorites here, but they are all adorable.

She paired up with largeformatposters.com, which I'm going to have to remember if I ever need any banners or large photos in the future.  Super neat stuff!!

Thanks and Apples

First, I want to thank everyone for reading my blog and cheering me on.  It really is neat how technology can bring us closer together and show support (even if it's just for me walking a few extra miles) for one another.  Thanks; you're all great and I love reading all of your blogs too!

Second, my husband and I had a great time on Saturday at two new (for us) apple orchards.  We have had our favorite for many years and always make a point of going there several times during the season.  Just recently, we discovered that we had these other two almost as close.  Both orchards offer such different settings and activities - it was wonderful to experience them both and compare them.  I found this website since that seems to list most of the orchards around the country.  I hope it comes in handy for some of you and I hope you are all enjoying this wonderful time of the year (it's my favorite!!!!).

http://www.pickyourown.org/index.htm

Fearless Friday

Fearless can mean so many things to many different people, so I'm not going to even try to impress you with a completely risky event every Friday (I've never been the bungee jumper type anyway).  But when I was thinking about what fearless event I should do today, I thought about what I want to do that I probably wouldn't end up doing if I didn't commit myself right here and now.

I have an hour and 45 minutes in between seeing students today (I haven't been able to quit my day job yet) that I am going to commit myself to walking right now.  I normally plan things like that and then find the shallowest of excuses to get out of the entire walking time.  I really have no excuses today: the weather is beautiful and I have a few extra pounds I put on since our last long weekend in Traverse City, MI (voted #1 food town by Midwest Living) that I really need to shed before winter arrives.

So there you have it - I'm sure some of you are scoffing at this "fearless" act, but this blog is actually helping me keep my priorities straight and I appreciate you being there to help me along.

A Photography Giveaway

Here's a link to a great photography giveaway at Akane Designs:

http://akanedesigns.blogspot.com/2009/09/photography-competition-giveaway.html

You have lots of chances of winning, so give it a shot and good luck.

Super Saturday - a follow-up to Fearless Friday

Well, I blogged yesterday that I was going to use one of the great threads Etsy provides and have another
Etsian grade my shop.  It was nerve wracking for me - I wanted to know what changes to make, but I didn't want to hear anything too bad.  It turned out, it was a wonderful experience.  I had 3 different people grade my store and they all gave me an A.  I'm sure they were still being kind, but it really was nice to hear that I'm doing at least a few things right :)  In a way, it gave me more confidence to not worry about every little thing and keep thinking about what I can do to make my store the best it can be.

This entire process reminded me how I don't particularly like being out of my comfort zone, but it makes me feel so good afterwards (ask me about my dog-sledding experience for more examples!!!!).  So, I would like to make Fearless Fridays a regular thing to my blog.  I don't know if I can come up with enough things at first that put me in that nervous (but good) position, so please let me know if you have any suggestions...or even if you would like me to post something you have done yourself that fits that description!  It doesn't have to be dangerous by any means, just something we would normally put off till that proverbial tomorrow.

Oh, and why is this Super Saturday?  I finally had my first sale, thanks to my fellow Etsy Paper Team member, Paper Peddler.  And I was able to contribute to the Susan G. Komen goal.  YAY!!!!

Fearless Friday

Okay, I've decided to bite the bullet and take leap:  I'm going to have my store graded using this thread:  http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5939911&page=484.  I'm pretty worried, which probably means that I know it could look better and I need to spend more time trying to figure out how, but here goes...
...I'll let you know how it goes.

My new shoes

I just have to tell everyone how much I love wearing my TOMS shoes.  I got brown ones that go wonderfully with all of my Ellembee shirts - a little shout out to one of my favorite Etsians!  The shoes are a little expensive and much more than I would normally spend for this type of shoe, but I liked their cause (posted below) and they are as comfortable as any slippers I've ever owned.  I'm sure people much more talented than myself can make their own shoes, but this will be about as close as I will ever come to wearing shoes that feel like they were made just for me.  Click on the link below if you have a chance; it's a really neat thing.

New Shoes

Community - Official Store - TOMS Shoes - A Pair of New Shoes is Given to a Child in Need With Every Pair Purchased - One for One - TOMSshoes.com

Shared via AddThis

End of Summer recipe

I know blueberry season is pretty much over and I wanted to share this WONDERFUL recipe that I just found.  It allowed me to use up the end of my blueberries (you can use frozen if you don't have fresh) and some rhubarb I had laying around (again, frozen is okay).  ENJOY!

RHUBERRY CRISP

1 c. flour
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. cold water

2 c. rhubarb
2 c. blueberries
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. flour



Combine first 7 ingredients. Mix to form crumbs. Set aside.

Combine last 4 ingredients and put in 8x8 pan. Sprinkle crumb mixture over top. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.