Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sigh

I fear my time as a Lady of Leisure is almost up. Gas and electric are way expensive up here and we've just been getting by for over the past month. No fun. So I'm now searching for all kinds of jobs and will pretty much have to take the first one that is offered to me. Please pray that I can get a job fast! I don't want to paint a bleak picture, but I really, really need a job. Oh well, being a LoL was fun while it lasted.

Monday, November 17, 2008

A Little Crafty

Here's what I made this weekend.




(I hope the tails look like tails and not other appendages. HA!)

On Friday, Martha Stewart had this lady on her show who taught us how to make stuffed animals out of gloves and socks. I immediately knew I wanted to try this. It was so fun to make these and really, really cheap. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought a 2 pack of kids' gloves, so 50 cents each for the material. Then I bought a huge bag of buttons for $1.50, and a large bag of polyfill for $2.00. I already had all the needle and thread, and I went to work. I hand sewed these because I find hand sewing relaxing, but if you use a sewing machine, you could whip these things out in no time. Since David and I are pretty poor right now, I'm thinking these will be Christmas gifts for all the little kids on our list. The website gives directions for the dog and the bunny. The pictures above are just my prototypes. Once you see what the animals are really supposed to look like, you'll think that these guys are pretty deformed, but it's a start. Next time, I'm going to use bigger gloves and a couple of different techniques. I've heard there's an elephant you can make out of socks, but the pattern isn't on the Internet. I might have to break down and buy the "Sock and Glove" book when we have some spare cash. Oh, and Scout has adopted the rabbit as her new "murder toy". I've hidden it in a couple different places, but she always finds it and proceeds to inflict flesh wounds. She really wants to kill the rabbit but she ignores the dog. Weird.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Cincinnati

I was looking through some saved stuff on our camera today and came across some pictures of our neighborhood in Cincinnati. I meant to post these a long time ago. I like living in Potsdam, but I sure do miss living in Clifton and Cincinnati as a whole. We'll probably stay in NY for 3-5 years. After that, we have our eyes on Cincinnati, Indy, or Chicago. I think Cincinnati is our top pick right now. Anyway, here are some pics of our totally awesome old neighborhood of Clifton. All these businesses were right on our street.


This was our apartment building. Take a close look and try to guess which balcony was ours.


Our library






Hippie stores 1,2, and 3


Our theater.


Florist


Mediterranean foods and hookah store.


Skyline Chili- a Cincinnati fave.

There are so many more awesome business pics I could show, but I want everyone to see all the cool houses in our neighborhood.


We lived in the gaslight district. That's our street sign behind the light.













Clifton was definitely a neat place to live.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Taste the Rainbow... of Shaving Cream

There is this one commercial that has been equally intriguing me and driving me nuts lately. David says I need to take a couple of deep breaths and let it go, but I can't. Here's part of the ad.



This isn't the part that's driving me crazy (Damn YouTube for not having the whole thing). Just before this, the announcer tells everyone that there are seven great flavors of Barbasol. Flavors? I'm intrigued because the commercial shows that the meaning of "flavor" is expanding to something beyond taste. "Flavor" is now starting to mean variety, type, kind, etc. The commercial is at least a couple years old, and I know this usage of "flavor" isn't exactly new either. When I worked at Osco, my co-workers would always talk about stocking different "flavors" of nail polish, dish soap, cleaning products, and other inedible items. I never joined my co-workers in this usage for one simple reason- it absolutely turned my stomach. I didn't want to think about drinking "Autumn Berry" nail polish.

When the Barbasol commercial comes on, I have a fit because I am forced to think about eating shaving cream- usually in a custard cup with a spoon or plopped on an ice cream cone like soft serve. And then I go upstairs, stand in the bathroom, look at David's Barbasol can, and think, hmmm... what would "Soothing Aloe" taste like? Or better yet, what would the flavors "Sensitive Skin" "Extra Protection" and "Therapeutic" taste like? I'm really curious about "Therapeutic." I have a feeling they'll all taste like soap- and I do know what that tastes like. My parents never punished me that way; I just wanted to see what the big deal was about after watching A Christmas Story.

Anyway... I wonder how many people use "flavor" to mean variety. And just as important, how far does the usage extend? Different varieties of liquids or scented materials make sense to me, perhaps because of my Osco experience. But I can't imagine asking for a different flavor of book, CD, or clothing, at least, not in the same way with the same exact meaning.

So keep an eye out for the Barbasol commercial, and try not to eat any shaving cream.