Aug 22, 2011

There Are More Ways to Fall Down Than We Ever Imagined

Walking around is dangerous stuff - It's not just about tripping, or falling strait over because your head is so big.  You could step on a rogue peice of sidewalk chalk, your feet can slide out from under you, or they could just take off into space and leave you in a heap on the floor.  There are literally Zillions of different ways you can fall and permanently damage yourself.  What is a person to do?

Once our kids start walking we like to show them the following safety video.  We have found that with a little bit of awareness, we can really cut down on home-place accidents.   As a person who falls down a lot, I find the information offered herein to be timely and invaluable.



And if you can get the Rifftrax version of this video, all the better for you.

Aug 6, 2011

Vinyl and junk

Did you know that just by signing up for Etsy, you automatically have an account that can be turned into a store?  Wild, I know.  All you have to do is start listing stuff for sale.  The only question is, what?  What do I have that no one else does?  What could I offer that would be unlike anything else out there?

Well the answer is simple.  Nothing.  Everything there is to make or do has already been made, done, labeled, and sold, bought and processed, so there is no point spending a lot of precious brain power thinking about it.  Instead I figure I will jump on whichever wagon seems like a good one and just ride it until the end of the line.    And so, with my Cricut in hand, I have begun working up some of my very own vinyl signs for folks to stick on their walls and decorate their otherwise boring houses with.

Here are a few soon-to-be-classic phrases I came up with, that, if they prove popular enough (and I'm thinking they will!!!), will soon be flying off the shelves of my hypothetical store.  




Just imagine these beauties hanging over your dining room table:


I would hang the next one directly across from the toilet:
I find the font especially soothing.


Here's one you might like to stick on the outside of the bathroom door.  Maybe on the lower half, where the short people can read it:

Or one I made to go on the dryer door:
but it would also be really fun to put it on a T-shirt.


Here are a few others:

And here are pictures of some of my signs in action!

That is supposed to say "Always".  I don't know where the L went.  I have looked everywhere for it.







I'll also do specially made name vinyls in a little 2x6 size.  That way you can carry a stack of name stickers around with you all the time, and stake your claim on anything that isn't labeled.  I would especially use it for seating.  Anytime I sat down I would pull out a sticker, label my new seat and then I would be free to walk around.  And when some wiseacre steals my seat and says "I don't see your name on it!" I can point out the label and boy won't he look foolish then! Ha!


And I just gotta tell you that while I was looking on Etsy for ideas for these, I found some truly awesome and stunning vinyl signs you can put on your walls.  If you don't want one of  these.  But it is really up to you.

Aug 2, 2011

Amiably Grown Up

Today I went grocery shopping.  I do that sometimes.  And today I figured we would get some icecream cones while we were there, to make a party out of it.  Icecream can do that.  So I got a tiny little baby cone for Colin, and a slightly bigger cone for Harrison and a monstrously huge one for myself, but Harrison-the-weirdo said that he wanted the little tiny baby one.  So I gave it to him and the bigger one to Colin and on we shopped.   And because of all that, Harrison and I had long since finished our cones when Colin was still sucking on his and it was oozing all over him and he started mostly just sticking his fingers in it so I TOOK CHARGE! and filched that dirty cone and reassigned it into the depths of the nearest garbage can.  Success!

But he was super mad at me.  Not screaming at the top of his lungs mad, more like taking it out on his surroundings mad.  He squealed and hit his brother with his tiny hands and smacked the cart and tried to smash the groceries.  It is sad when your fury makes other people laugh.  Cuz that is what I did.  But it did get pretty annoying and he was NOT getting over it, so I found some potato mashers for both the boys to play with.  Soon, though, Colin was only happy if he was holding BOTH of them, and Harrison finally gave his to Colin just to shut him up.  I thought that was pretty nice, so we made a little stop in the toy aisle so that he could play for a while.  And I found a few goodies.  No, wait, that wasn't said with the right amount of enthusiasm.  Let me try again:
I FOUND A FEW GOODIES!!!!

There.  Now I've captured my emotion.

I took a few pictures, because those toys are just funny.


 Sure looks like a fun train set!  Please box, tell us more!!


Whew, I don't know about you, but On and Off are just about more than I can handle.  This toy might not be appropriate for children under 13.  Use Caution.


Translation: The chemical composition of the plastic may cause you to break out in Cloor* Boils, (a painless side effect of all the ideation and fun!)

Aand THIS version is cool,


cuz I'd rather be happy than amiable, it comes with a car, AND it does this:


Boy, I know I've passed a few "sounds and flishing" in my time, if ya know what I mean.  But never in public.  I AM a lady.  Even when I am giggling uncontrollably in the grocery store.  Decorum, always decorum.  That is why my children are so well behaved.

Thank you.



*a rare strain of the bubonic plague.