Okay – so I just got my copy of Something Cleverish in the mail. And I have found some great new (to me) humor blogs. These people are FUNNY! So far, my biggest laughs were for a post from Heidi of Hadleyesque. Her memories of an elementary school piano composition contest are hilarious. I’m honored to have been included in this group. Seriously.
So I’m devoting Materialistic Monday to Nie Nie. Buy the book!
If you’re not familiar with this, Sue from Navel Gazing at It’s Finest had the idea of putting together a book full of funny blog posts to raise money for the NieNie Recovery fund.
And even more great news…Nie Nie is posting again. Her courage, spirit and humor are truly inspirational. I’m sure that mine were just a few of the many tears shed over her last few posts. I think that she and her family bring new meaning to the word “faith” (and I’m not even a particularly religious person…) If you’d like to start your week out with hope and love, go give her a visit.
You have until Sunday to enter. Good luck to you – but I think I’ve got good giveaway karma by now and fully expect to win!
By the way, I got the imagines of wings from the very expensive but super cute Chasing Fireflies. The web address for that is chasing-fireflies.com, NOT chasingfireflies.com. BIG difference….
My old co-worker (“old” as in years since we’ve worked together – not years in her age), just started a blog: What She Has….
Kelcey has a fantastic sense of humor and she’s a little bit of a shopaholic. So I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. Her last post detailed the reincarnation of her wedding shoes. Just add a little black dye and voila! Instant makeover.
Many of you may remember the Nie Nie Auctions that were held to raise money for Stephanie Nielson and her family. These fundraisers have continued in the form of concerts, ski events and the like. Even books.
Sue from Navel Gazing at It’s Finest had the idea of putting together a book full of funny blog posts to raise money for the NieNie Recovery fund. She asked for bloggers to submit posts and I’m excited to report that one of mine made the cut!
Sue says:
“The Something Cleverish book features posts from forty-three funny bloggers – all for one great cause. We even managed to rope in a few celebrity submissions from Finslippy, Eric D. Snider, Rocks in My Dryer, Big Mama, Sweetney, Daring Young Mom, TAMN and more. (You can find a list of all of the bloggers included in the book here.)”
There isn’t much that I miss about my life before marriage. I’m content to just reminisce, and feel no need to revisit those days of staying out until dawn and wondering “if he’s going to call.” But there is one thing that I do long for with great nostalgia. One sigh-inducing memory that I will most likely carry with me for the rest of my life…the girl bedroom.
You see, I ALWAYS had a pretty bedroom. From the time I was old enough to have my own big girl bed to my years as a twenty-something, too poor to afford more than a closet that accommodated a twin-size mattress – my room was girly. I grew up with a love of delicately patterned textiles and soft colors. And I like nothing better than to sink into a cloud of down pillows. In fact, if I had to pick the one room of a house in which decor is of the utmost importance, I would choose the bedroom. And of course, my current bedroom is the ONE room in my house that ISN’T painted, ISN’T decorated, and IS generally a big mess.
It isn’t painted because we ran out of time before the twins were born (we moved into this house just three weeks before they arrived). It isn’t decorated beyond a few paintings on the walls because I don’t see the point until we actually paint the walls. And it is generally a big mess due to my husband’s inability to put his things away or get out of bed in time for me to make it in the mornings. But I won’t go into a big story about what a slob my husband is. I’ve already done that.
And not having a girl bedroom really goes beyond the decor. It’s the overall atmosphere. Now that I share a room with my husband, guy stuff can be found on every surface area and piles of newspapers and sports magazines languish in corners (until I can’t take it anymore and throw them out). When I retire for the night, I slip into bed, carefully lifting the corner of the sheets. My roommate prefers to rip the sheets out of their neatly tucked corners and kick off the bedding because it’s “too hot.” When Chris is away for work, I wake up in a bed almost as tidy as it was when I fell asleep. When he’s home, I wake up in a nest. And let’s be honest. I miss waking up in a room that smells the same as it did when I turned in for the night.
So yes – I do yearn a bit for the pretty girl rooms of my past, and I do a little drooling when I page through catalogs and magazines featuring pretty bedrooms with pretty colors and pretty objets strategically placed on the pretty dressers and side tables. But mostly I lust after pretty bedding since it’s really the cornerstone of the girl bedroom. So this week’s Materialistic Monday is devoted to images of princess worthy beds. Here are some of my current favorites:
Okay – so one more bed-related story. Once on a business trip to Beijing (this was rare so don’t be too impressed), I had the MOST disappointing bed experience of my life. I can honestly say that I LOVE hotel beds, and most of the hotels I patronized at that time, were competing with each other for status of “best bed.” I had become accustomed to Heavenly Beds, Suite Sleepers, and the like.
After 24 hours of travel time and an arrival at what felt like 6 a.m. EST, my colleague and I were pooped. We arrived at our fabulous luxury hotel (I know – dream trip) ready to fall into bed and sleep for as long as possible. And when I walked into my bedroom, I saw exactly what I was hoping for: a big white marshmallow of a duvet with about 87 fluffy white pillows. Like a little girl, I took a running leap into the cloud-like arrangement. Only to hit what felt like a park bench. What the hell?! It was the hardest bed I’ve ever encountered in my life. I emotionally deflate just thinking about it. What a let down. And to add insult to injury, I found a listing for BED BOARDS in the hotel services brochure. I don’t think a sidewalk could be firmer than that mattress from hell. It just goes to show that there are different cultural expectations for sleeping comfort everywhere you go… Here at Chez Hood, the beds may not be girly – but they’re definitely softer than concrete.
Have you ever heard of scent necklaces? Well – I hadn’t heard the actual term until I saw this swoon worthy bauble at Wendy Brandes Jewelry a few months ago:
I found Wendy’s website when she commented on one of my posts (about my shoes of all things). I loved her designs and I was particularly taken with the Mia Scent Necklace (named after Mia Farrow for her role as Daisy in The Great Gatsby). I would have purchased it on the spot if it wasn’t for the fact that it is 18k gold with diamonds and not really in my impulse purchase price range.
I thought that it would be perfect for Materialistic Monday (it definitely falls into the category of “things I want but don’t actually need”), and planned to find other less expensive options to feature. But I was a bit disappointed in the search results. There just don’t seem to be all that many scent necklaces out there (unless of course you are into Avon or Wicca – then the selection becomes a bit more robust).
It took some digging, but I was able to find a few other designs that I liked:
The Morning Glory Antique Silver Locket Necklace with Turquoise Flowers fromHeatherly Designs. Very ornate and well suited to girly girls (of which I am one).
The Heart Scent Locket fromAFMetalsmith(red scent fabric was used for the picture).This locket is very modern and manages to make a heart look “edgy” – impressive.
This image came fromScent Scribbles. I don’t know anything about the site or this particular piece – but I really liked the shape and style.
The Sunflower Scent Locket fromEquinox Gifts, has a very simple design that appeals to me. Great for silver devotees (and sunflower fans).
This museum piece found ondhub.orgwas designed by Elsa Schiaparelli, Paris, [c 1940]. I’m in love with the detail (see below):
The pink glass flower, a gold and dark blue, papau shell fly and a gold flower are too tiny to spot on the picture above. (Incidentally, I have no idea who Elsa Schiaparelli is and never knew that “papau” was the name of this kind of shell. That all comes directly from the description paragraph.)
A few of the lockets above are very affordable – but all in all, it’s not easy to find anything like a costume or knockoff version of the Wendy Brandes piece. And that is unfortunate for me because I think I could actually use a scent locket.
I’m one of those unfortunate people who doesn’t really retain smells (I mean, unfortunate when it comes to perfume and scented lotion – not when it comes to cigarette smoke and garlic). My perfume wears off in about three seconds, so I’m more likely to spray it on my sleeve than my wrist. A scent locket would solve that problem.
For now I’ll just have to continue to spritz my clothing and hope that Wendy adds a new “Recessionista” line to her current fine jewelry selection (with a knockoff Mia Scent Necklace of course).
My son Oliver has recently become obsessed with The Gingerbread Man. He bursts into spontaneous quotes at random times and I’ve started to hear the “run, run as fast as you can – can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man” song in my sleep.
His preschool class had been reading and acting out the story in December and even had a little Gingerbread Man holiday party before Winter break. So at least I know the root of this new mania. And honestly – it’s pretty cute. His garbled version of “run, run as fast as you can” always makes me smile.
I only worry about what will happen when he returns to his class in January and they have moved onto a new book. I wonder if Oliver will try to stage a Gingerbread Man coup d’état. I wouldn’t be surprised given his aversion to change. Either way, I expect some indication of alarm (“What? No Gingerbread Man? What are you trying to do? Ruin my life?”)
In fact, I worry about all of my children and their reaction to the disappearance of holiday decorations, treats and DVDs. We have been rockin’ around the Christmas tree (literally) for about a month, and I don’t think they remember what life was like before. I thought that their obsession with Halloween pumpkins was bad – but that was nothing in comparison to LIGHTS! Every day after I pick them up at daycare, I have to take them on a tour of the neighborhood light displays. Their daycare provider lives in a predominantly pre-fab neighborhood where people think nothing of displaying 50 plastic lawn ornaments (none of which have anything to do with the holiday season), so you can only imagine what they can do with holiday lights and inflatable snowmen, santas and various cartoon characters in holiday garb. To be fair, the kids will sometimes yell for pumpkins – but that’s only because some of the houses still have a few plastic jack 0’lanterns on display.
Luckily for me, I can distract Oliver from this defection of holiday cheer with Gingerbread Man videos. Chris has started pulling up these clips on YouTube, so now the little weirdo demands to see them every time he catches sight of a laptop. Okay – so maybe “luckily for me” isn’t entirely accurate… But I try to drink from the “half full” cup of insanity that seems to come with unlimited refills.
We have found some really bizarre ones, which are surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) some of Oliver’s favorites. Here are a couple (if you are not familiar with the story, I suggest watching this old school version that Oliver also likes):
Lately, I’ve been feeling a little bit like the Gingerbread Man. Everyone is out to get me. Just kidding! (Sort of.) But I do feel like I have a frightening number of responsibilities chasing me toward inevitable doom. Or at the very least toward an even bigger holiday weight gain than I expected. Stress eating + holidays = “fat clothes” coming out of their closet hibernation.
I meant to take last week off from just writing, but all of the last minute work projects, holiday events, children home from daycare and the never ending disaster of my messy house have taken their toll. I haven’t read or commented on any of my favorite blogs. I haven’t responded to e-mails from friends. I haven’t caught up on any of my prime time television viewing… I’m a holiday slacker. But as I said before – the holidays are almost over. So no more running. I’ll just let it all catch up with me and hope that I don’t get eaten alive.
Don’t forget to enter the jewelry giveaway! Comments open until TOMORROW, Tuesday, December 30 at 9:00 p.m. EST.
It’s Christmas Eve and Chris and I are watching Elf. Now I could say that my favorite Christmas movie is It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street or even A Christmas Story. That would sound better. But it wouldn’t be true. My favorite Christmas movie is Elf. I never get sick of it. It makes me laugh, which makes me happy. which makes me smile. Which is good because “smiling is my favorite.”
Here are some clips I found on YouTube. Happy Holidays!
My good friend Amy over at Doobleh-vay always finds the best stuff. Like THIS. And after watching it about 20 times, it occurred to me that I could check YouTube to see if these talented (and weird) lip synchers had anything else. I wasn’t disappointed.
Sadly – embedding was disabled for my two favorites, so I couldn’t feature them here. But I highly recommend B&B’s version of Growing Pains and You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling. (and I was just talking about the Top Gun premiere…)
So here is my runner up choice (with “able” embedding):
Where did they get the old school Lite Brite? I feel old just knowing what what that is…
And for for something really trippy – check this one out.
While perusing through these gems, Chris (oh yes – he got sucked in too, and so did my three year old for that matter) and I stumbled across this:
I dare you to try to NOT watch the whole thing. Not only is that impossible – it’s likely that you will feel the need to watch it again (and again and again…) And Oliver (my three year old) was really into the “robots” – so it’s fun for the whole family!
Okay – I think I need to watch these a few hundred more times, so that’s it for tonight.
(And I apologize for the delay in this week’s giveaway. I swear – it’s coming soon! So check back later this week.)
