Archive for January, 2008
Wanna know (TWEE) what the most (WEEEEEEE) irritating sound in the  (TWEEEE) world is? Can  you (FWEEE) guess? come on, give it one (TWEEE) good (TUHWEE) shot (TWEETWEETWEEEE)…  ok, it’s the sound of a child who has *just* learned how to whistle by blowing across a bottle (WHEEWEEWEEEE).
Now, in the olden days (hee, I’m old enough and uncool enough to say “olden days”), this most likely would’ve been done with a glass Coke bottle. Or, for the drunkard families out there, a glass beer bottle. Whatever the liquid, the container would’ve been glass, giving you that nice, low glassbottlesound (whooooooo). Â
As it is, she learned on one of those disgusting blue syrup drink bottles, made of impossibly thin, melty plastic with an even more impossibly small hole. Which makes the most impossibly god-awful shriek (TWEEEEETWEETWEEEEETWEEWEEE) you’ve ever heard. Â Â
Fan(FWEEEEEE)tastic.
January 15th, 2008
Me. Yes, me. Let me tell you how much I *hate* my new computer monitor. I cannot begin to describe my current loathing. Up until this weekend, I had a trusty old CRT (yes, it was mammoth, but it worked and it had good color). But my trusty old monitor finally gave up its will to live and I had a replacement all ready — a shiny, new LCD. So sleek! So shiny! So BIG! Look at my desktop — it doesn’t look nearly as crowded now that my files can unpile themselves!
So shiny new monitor was doing good. Until I actually had to do some, uh, work tonight. I opened my file and it was all… funky. I mean, butt-ugly colors that I would never in a million years have specified. What’s up? I tinkled around in Photoshop — was the file in the wrong color mode? No. Futzed with the color settings, the preferences, the profiles… nothing helped. So I’m thinking, “aw F$#@, I’m going to have to rebuild this entire file!” So I open the low-res version I’d sent off as a proof (it looks fine) and try to sample colors from it. Won’t work.
It takes me 45 MINUTES to figure out the problem. The problem being that the colors look different relative to where they are on the screen — if I would’ve moved my image mere inches across the screen, I would’ve seen the right colors. What?! Oh, no… I CANNOT HAVE THIS!
Listen here, Mr. SlickShinyLCD — I’ve had quarrels with monitors before, and the only thing that’s stopped me from heaving them across the room was their sheer size. You don’t have that advantage. I could fling you like a 6-year-old boy with a little sister and a snot ball.
You’ve been warned.
January 15th, 2008
There isn’t even a “make it vs. buy it” decision to be made here… how can I not make one of these Monster Hoodies for my kids?
ok all you shoppers — be on the lookout for a purple hoodie, size 5T. thanks.
January 11th, 2008
a little laugh today, I give you SleeveFaces!
.
.
.
.
.
.
January 11th, 2008
So does it brand me too much of a nerd if I’m looking forward to a stamp issue? Yes, a stamp issue. You know, from the postal service. No, not the cool Postal Service… the regular ol’ USPS. Oh, so then I am a nerd?
Does it make a difference if it’s the Eames stamps? Did you hear me? THEÂ EAMESÂ STAMPS ARE COMING!Â
as if I needed another reason to look forward to summer (yes, I’m looking at you Cold, Drizzly Winter Day)…
January 11th, 2008
My children just drank root beer that’s been sitting in the fridge, opened, ummmmm, let’s be nice and say about a week ago. Â Â Oooohh weird, really? It gave me a full-body cringe too!Â
January 10th, 2008
We were having a load of sheetrock delivered today. The delivery men arrived, I showed them where to put the rock in the basement and then I sprinted for the other end of the house with my cell phone. Why? Because I didn’t know whether I was supposed to tip these men. And so I first called my husband, but he, apparently not being quite a grown-up either, didn’t know for sure*. So I had to CALL MY DAD**. If that’s not proof, I don’t know what is. (Yes, I tipped them… gave them a twenty and told them to have lunch on us***. They looked at me as if I were insane and said it wasn’t necessary. The 12 year old in me thought about snatching it back but I shoved it at them as they left.  Â
* Â he guessed we should tip them $20
** Â he said for sure that we should tip around $20
*** not even my own slick line — also suggested by my dadÂ
January 10th, 2008
Ok, it seems I have a little love affair with sock monkeys. So imagine my delight when I saw this Sock Battle shirt from Threadless.
Take THAT you evil, athlete’s foot-breathing sock dragon. And that!Â
Oh Ninja Sock Monkey… you’re my hero!
.
.
January 10th, 2008
a toilet manufacturer with a sense of humor.
January 9th, 2008
Ok, so months ago (yes, almost two now), Frances tagged me to do a meme. And being the slacker I am, I’m just now finally getting around to it.
(Here’s a little hint about successful slacking — if you wait and then finally do something, but come up with a good reason for waiting, it doesn’t seem so bad, right? Right?!)
So now, on the eighth day of 2008 (see? see what I did there?!), I present to you…
8 things I am passionate about:
- my kids
- my family
- design
- art
- type
- learning
- creativity
- letting kids be kids
8 things I want to do before I die:
- See my kids grown up and living happy lives*
- start another business
- help our small town grow
- bring more arts events into our town
- travel (it’s a toss-up between New Zealand and Italy)
- run a marathon
- figure out how to balance it all
- finish our basement remodel
8 things I say often:
- Hurry up or we’re going to be late!
- Anna! Let go of the cat.
- well… crap.
- Guess what? Cat** Butt!
- I have *no* idea.
- Anna, those shirt/pants/socks/rain boots don’t *really* go with each other…
- stop WHINING!
- no, I mean it… STOP WHINING!
8 books I’ve read recently:
- Olivia
- Dr. Seuss’s ABC
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- a pile of inane Disney Little Mermaid books
- Stick Kid
- Follow the Line
- some of the 412 magazines we get every month
- more of the 412 magazines we get every month
8 songs I could listen to over and over:
- Ray Charles, Old 97’s
- You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Rolling Stones
- Stoned, Old 97’s
- Three Little Birds, Bob Marley
- I’ve Got A Woman, Ray Charles
- Good Hearted Woman, Waylon Jennings ***
- Santa Monica, Everclear
- Holiday, Green Day
8 things that attract me to my best friends:
- a sense of humor
- intelligence
- a healthy dose of sarcasm
- honesty
- loyalty
- an appreciation for the arts
- curiosity
- tolerance ****
So now I’m supposed to tag eight more people to do this, but you know what? I’m not sure that I know eight more bloggers. Ok, I may, but I’m sure being the upstanding netizens that they are, they’ve done this eons ago. So instead, I want all of you, my eight loyal readers, to go be friends with me on Facebook. (And don’t be writing me nasty comments about why don’t I have a MySpace page instead… MySpace burns my sensitive designer’s retinas.)
* control-c, control-v from Frances, but it is really, truly the most important thing to me also
** insert whatever being with a butt has just sauntered by
*** yes, despite the cheesy 70s chorus behind him — shut up.
**** many of these also copied from Frances, but I guess that’s why we get along so well!
January 8th, 2008
Next Posts
Previous Posts