The Goat: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

November links

Here is a list of all the posts I wrote for the month of November, 2009

Today is errand day - not much running around outside of the house - but rather running around inside the house. Tom came home on Wednesday night with a cold. We hauled all of his stuff into the house that night and it has been sitting in the livingroom ever since. I do not believe in putting his stuff away :) so I waited until today and then I suggested, rather strongly, that he gather his belongings and get them stored away again.

I didn't do dishes yesterday and goodness it showed! I didn't have a single glass left in the house. I thought about using the bunny, but instead she just helped wash up. Don't you love her soap bubble hat?

Dishes done.

Laundry. Lots and lots of laundry.

Vacuuming.

Breakfast, lunch, snack and later, dinner.

I have some sewing to do, too. One of my tenants told me that the seam had ripped on one of the fitted sheets and he asked me if I wanted him to throw it away. I about dropped the phone. Throw it away? Goodness, no. I told him, if he didn't mind, I'd come pick it up and sew it for them. The sheets are just two years old and still look and feel new, so they are not in need of replacing. The funny thing is that I know his wife wouldn't throw away sheets because of a small tear in the seam, so I know he didn't talk to her about it :)

The end of the month bills - done.

I did run over to my garage and brought out my tabletop Christmas tree and the three bins of decorations. I'll plug the tree in tonight. I'm excited about that - I love the lights. I often wonder if the magic of the Christmas lights on the tree ever goes away. So far it's been 43 years and I am still entranced by the lights on the tree.

I have a photo of me as a kid under the tree, I'll see if I can find it. It's cute.

Ah, the dryer has stopped. Better go fold and put away.

I hope you've had a wonderful day!
Kristin

POTD - Loops

Loops - by Kristin Corlett

On Saturday I talked about my walk through the Riverside neighborhood here in Jacksonville and the chair that I found chained to the seawall. This is one of the shots that I took of that chair.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Real Names - Stage Names

My husband and I were watching movies last night while he was coughing and hacking away and I was playing online as usual. I found this fun wiki page "List of Stage Names" and just had to share a little list with you.

I had to laugh that several of these names are from some of my favorite old game shows like What's My Line, To Tell the Truth and Match Game.

Tim Allen — Timothy Alan Dick
Woody Allen — Allen Stewart Konigsberg
Jennifer Aniston - Jennifer Joanna Anastassakis
George Burns — Nathan Birnbaum
David Bowie — David Robert Jones
Ellen Burstyn — Edna Mae Gilhooley
Kitty Carlisle - Catherine Conn
Dyan Cannon — Samile Diane Friesen
Chevy Chase — Cornelius Crane Chase
Stockard Channing — Susan Antonia Williams Stockard
Rodney Dangerfield — Jacob Cohen
Doris Day — Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff
Richard Dawson — Colin Emm
"Mama" Cass Elliott — Ellen Naomi Cohen
Fannie Flagg - Patricia Neal
Cary Grant — Archibald Alexander Leach
Judy Garland — Frances Ethel Gumm
Gary Glitter - Paul Francis Gadd
Whoopi Goldberg — Caryn Elaine Johnson
Susan Hayward — Edythe Marrenner
Billy Idol — William Michael Albert Broad
Ted Knight — Tadeusz Władysław Konopka
Bruno Kirby - Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu, Jr.
Queen Latifah - Dana Elaine Owens
Barry Manilow — Barry Alan Pinkus
Garry Marshall - Anthony Wallace Marsciarelli
Penny Marshall — Carole Penelope Marsciarelli
Lou Diamond Phillips — Louis Upchurch
Slim Pickens - Louis Bert Lindley, Jr.
Minnie Pearl - Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon
Gene Rayburn - Eugene Rubessa
Donna Reed - Donna Belle Mullenger
Meg Ryan — Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra
Charlie Sheen — Carlos Irwin Estevez
Martin Sheen — Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez
Christian Slater — Christian Michael Leonard Hawkins
Brett Somers - Audrey Johnston
Barbara Stanwyck — Ruby Katherine Stevens
Randy Travis - Randy Traywick
Steven Tyler — Stephen Victor Tallarico
Frankie Valli — Frank Castellucio
Jack Warden - John Lebzelter
Muddy Waters - McKinley Morganfield

I only knew a few of these - Cary Grant comes to mind. John Cleese's character in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) was named "Archie Leach" after Grant's real name. In the movie, The Holiday (2006), staring Kate Winslet, she says she comes from Surrey, England, which is where Cary Grant was born. However, Cary Grant was born in Bristol, England. Not sure why there was such a blatant error, but there ya go. He wasn't born in Surrey he was born in Bristol. Just a little movie trivia for ya!

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend. Onward to Christmas!
Kristin

Jazz Hands!

This is just 17 seconds of just tooo cute. You don't even need to turn on the sound :)

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Neighborhood walk

Today was once again the Riverside Arts Market (RAM) in Downtown Jacksonville. We've only got two or three of them left this year, so I'm making sure to attend. Farmers market, art fair, street fair and food. I love it. After going to RAM I usually end up driving a few miles down Riverside to investigate the neighborhoods there along the river. Today I struck gold :) I followed this little blue brick path...

...saw this beautiful red door with the pretty white Christmas wreath. Love the high gloss gold mailbox - and the bag of mulch on the porch :)

This was a fabulous spot. There were four or five trees all in a row with these lush ferns growing all around them. This would be a really nice spot in the heat of the summer as it was about 10º cooler in this spot than it was in the sunshine.

I walked to the end of one street and found this curiosity. It was a chair chained to the cement.

Not only that, it was a chair with duct tape as its fabric on the seat.

The old style ice cream shop chair was located right on the water!

...with a really cool view. I took a few dozen photos of this chair. It looks so fancy, but sitting there looking at the downtown on the far left (out of frame) and the boats going by and listening to the waves lapping...it was great. What a perfect place to sit.

I'll talk more about the RAM later, but I bought a few things for the person I'm Secret Santa-ing, so I don't want to spoil the surprise if they happen to be reading :) Oooh, I'm excited. I'm sending out the package on Monday or Tuesday!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week and didn't wear yourself out shopping. I didn't shop at all until today and it was just at the market.

Kristin

POTD - Rocks and Weeds

Rocks and Weeds - by Kristin Corlett

This was taken at a little parking area on the Grand River in Lansing, MI. I think it is a part of Francis Park. I took a few dozen photos of the ducks and the geese but this was by far the most interesting photo. I love all of the colors.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Friday, November 27, 2009

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444, from Half-Past Kissing Time, hosts Friday Fragments each week. It's a great excuse to get all those little snippets that gather in the brain and don't seem enough for one post but together they can make one fun blog post! I love to have you smile when you come over to visit. I hope I've done so! Please visit Mrs. 4444's Fragmented post so you can find even more severely fragmented posters like me.

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My husband got home Wednesday night. He arrived with a cold. Sneezing, coughing, blowing his nose. I was gone from October 2nd - 31. He left November 8th and got back on the 26th. I didn't bring home a cold or the flu, you'd think he could have disposed of that illness before he got home. sigh. Thankfully he's able to sleep.

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I slept on the couch last night. We have another bed but it wasn't made and the cat has been sleeping on the comforter in there for a month. The couch seemed like a better choice. I originally went into my bedroom to sleep, but I couldn't stand having the coughing man next to me. Why is it when I get sick I sleep on the couch or guest bed and when he gets sick I end up on the couch or guest bed? I'm going to get the guest bed cleaned up and de-furred today, before I'm ready to plunk into bed, that's for sure.

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Once a month we have a WWW group that meets and goes out to dinner. The WWW stands for Women's Wine and Whine. It consists of the women who are a part of the Liver Transplant group. We can be caregivers or patients, pre or post transplant. Most of these folks don't drink, but the person who started the group did, so the name stuck. :) This last time we met we wore name tags because we had a severa new folks & returning friends who hadn't met this group at all. The tiny restaurant was packed so we noticed everyone who was coming and going. At a table near us, two women got up to leave and one of them looked over and waved "Bye Kristin. Bye Brenda." Brenda and I both looked at each other as if to say - do you know her? When we both realized that the woman was reading our name tags. How funny.

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I found these cute Barcode designs online. I've always been fascinated with barcodes (I know, I'm weird) but how fun to have something functional and yet creative at the same time.

There are a few dozen different designs, go take a look!

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There is this beautiful magazine that I keep buying and it drives me crazy that I do it. The darned thing is $15! (OK, so I've only purchased three of them in the past year, but still) I think it comes out every two months, but that's a ton of money. Why am I upset that buy it? Because it's called "Artful Blogging" and it's about blogs. I'm buying something that is about something I can read online. All of it is online and it's free! and I'm paying $15 a pop to read it in a magazine format. I have to admit it's gorgeous and I have found a lot of lovely blogs through it and I've read them each a few dozen times. That's better than most magazines. I tend to flip through them once and only read about 1/3 of what's in it. Come to think of it - I wonder if my local library has copies of this magazine? hmmmm, that's an idea. :)

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I was standing in front of the pie case at my grocery store when I realized I coudn't for the life of me remember if my husband liked pumpkin pie or not. I was thinking it was a yes, but I was scratching my head, so I decided to pick up the phone and call him. He picked up and I said, "Do you like pumpkin pie?" He said, "yes, I love pumpkin pie." I told him OK thanks, that's all I needed to know and we hung up. The woman standing next to me said "How long have you been married?" and when I said 7 years she about fell over laughing. She was sure we we were newlyweds haha Nope. I'm sure I'll have to ask him again next year.

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Tis the season of giving!

Would anyone like to have 7 of the Martha Stewart Everyday Food little cookbook/magazines? (bunny not included) I just noticed that one of them is Issue #2. Shoot me off an email (Kirby3131(at)gmail.com) and I'll toss those in the mail for you. I just haven't used them even though I want to! I want to entertain. I want to make cookies and 5 easy pastas but I just can't seem to get that accomplished. Maybe you can? The first one to raise their hand (by sending an email) gets them! Shipping is on me.

(UPDATE: We have a taker! Thanks for playing along. )

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I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you will have lots of leftovers to eat through the weekend. I will not be going to any of the Black Friday events, as it is nearly noon, I've missed most of them! but I did get my DVR fixed today - yeah!!!!! Life is good :)

Thanks Mrs. 4444 for being the gracious host of Friday Fragments.

Have a great day!

Kristin

POTD - Whale

Lena's Restaurant - by Kristin Corlett

I think this restaurant is in Silver Springs, FL on Hwy 40. I couldn't quite figure out if it was still open, but it may only be open seasonally from October - May. I'll have to make another trip to that side of the state sometime and find out for myself! I love this sign though. I just love it.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

The turkey tried to run away before it was too late to become the center of our Thanksgiving dinner. It might have been better to let it go as it is taking forever for it to cook. :) Tom wanted to stuff the turkey and I had no idea how much longer it takes to cook a stuffed turkey, not to mention I had the temperature too low in the oven. Hopefully we'll eat before bedtime!

I planned on having guests for Thanksgiving, but none of the invitees ended up being able to come. Considering how long it's taking to cook the turkey, it's probably a blessing! (Actually, I would have been much more prepared had it not been just Tom and I. I would have investigated the cooking times for a stuffed turkey at least!)

Tom got home from his hunting trip just last night. Thankfully he didn't get a deer this year. Not that I mind hunting, but last year he got a deer and we weren't able to get any of that meat to Florida, so he had it processed and had the meat donated to Hunters for Humanity (I think it's called). He had a nice time with his friends and family, so I'm very glad that he went.

Tom and his family had their Thanksgiving on Sunday before he drove back to Florida. I'm glad he was able to be with them. It just so happened that everyone was going to be in town before Thanksgiving and not on the day - so they had it early. Perfect! Good thing he got turkey then, because he may never get any today haha!

All kidding aside, I'm so very very thankful for my loved ones, my blogging friends, my online friends, for the wonderful people I've met through the transplant groups and to every single person, place or thing that has touched my heart or made me a better person. I am truly thankful.

I hope you've had a blessed year.
Kristin

**Edited to add - we finally ate at 7:30pm. That's not too bad. I was shooting for 4pm.

All the images were found using Google search - Vintage Thanksgiving card.

POTD - Schwinn

Schwinn - by Kristin Corlett

This is my Mom's Schwinn parked in her backyard in East Lansing, MI.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Peanut Shop

The Peanut Shop in Lansing. MI was established in 1960. I really didn't know about this place until the mid 90's when we opened up our coffeehouse. Oh my goodness the smell of roasted nuts on Washington Square was always so wonderful. The Dancing Goat Coffeehouse was just two blocks away on the same street and every so often I would take a trip down the road to get a bag of nuts to take home with me.

On this particular day I was in Lansing with my sister, Alison and her daughter Zora. Scarlett had just been fed, so we took this opportunity to leave her with Jim and we went to Zora's school to pick her up and then stop by The Peanut Shop.

This is the sight that greets you when you walk by the Peanut Shop. All of those lovely nuts. Seriously, this place smells delicious! They have 37 varieties of fresh roasted nuts (if I remember correctly.) They even have hot peanuts in a little bin at the front counter. The store holds about 10 people if you don't mind being crushed. I tried a few times to get a photo of the inside of the store, but there was never a time when we were there, when we were alone. It's a busy little place.

Alison and Zora have a new tradition, probably just two years in the making, but one that they both enjoy. Just before Halloween they come to The Peanut Shop to get a bag of...

Candy Corn!

Zora walked directly to the back of the store and pointed to the candy corn with a big smile on her face. She was so relieved that there was still some left. We got a pound of the candy corns, a few toffee and chocolate pieces and a bag of mixed nuts as I recall. It was a quick trip but well worth it.

If you ever find yourself in Lansing, MI make sure you take a trip to The Peanut Shop.

The Peanut Shop
(517) 374-0008
117 S Washington Sq
Lansing, MI 48933

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving,
Kristin

POTD - Conut Patti

Conut Patti - by Kristin Corlett

I thought this was such a funny scene - a partial sign (that is supposted to say Coconut Patties) a deer outline, fishing net and a sea shell sign. I'm really wondering what turtle extract is, if that's what it really says. This was taken at Tom's Souvenir shop in St. Augustine, FL.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Oh Bunny

Last week I mentioned that I saw this cute little bunny in an antique mall.

Well, I had no idea what was to come!

My dear friend Bob kind of fell in love with it and started leaving messages.

This is the message she said on that original post... (remember, we call each other Bob, so it's easy to be confused.)

Bob said...

BOB! I want that bunny! PLEASE go back and get me that bunny! I will send $$$$ I must have that bunny! Why? Well you know what green pottery does to me, but I used to have a similar bunny in white...and I call all of my students bunnies...
I MUST HAVE THAT BUNNY!

In case I missed that comment, I found this on Facebook

Bob said.... BOB! I just begged you on your blog to go and get me that bunny! I MUST have that bunny! Please snap up that bunny for me when you go to the craft fair....I have fallen in love with a pale green, cold paint eyed bunny.....please put me out of my obsessive pain and grab that bunny! Argh!

Then as her status message she posted these messages the next few days. I've included a few of the comments, too as it was getting pretty funny.

Bob said.... oh bunny sweet green bunny.....bunny bunny bunny! I love you so....oh bunny, don't you know?! Yes, I love your portrait, so shiney and green, but to hold you in my arms...that is my green bunny dream.....

ººººººººººººººººººº

Bob said.... Oh Bunny, you're so fine...I am dreaming of the day when you will be mine! Oh bunny sweet green bunny! Bunny bunny bunny hop hop hop home to meeeeeee!

Friend of Bob's said....If I knew where this bunny was right now I would buy it for you and know I've made your life.

Friend of Bob's said....Make Kristen aka Bob go back and buy the bunny already!!!!!

My Mother said....send her a check Bob :o))

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Bob said.... to sleep, perchance to dream of green bunnies with cotton ball tails...oh bunny, sweet bunny...shall I post a cheque in the mail in hopes that you will appear in my garden of dreams? Oh bunny sweet green bunny...Bob should have snapped you up as she KNEW we were destined to be friends...dear bunny, sweet bunny...

Friend of Bob's said....Someone please get JB that green bunny before she drives me crazy!!!!

Friend of Bob's said....Yes!!!!!

Friend of Bob's said....Hang on, I'll check eBay. . . .

I said....I think I have a bunny in a bag, but he's not ready to go to NH quite yet. He's got some things to do around here first.

Friend of Bob's said....Yeah!!!!!!

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On Sunday I went out to the Antique Mall to pick up the bunny. The whole reason for going back out to that side of town again was canceled, but how could I resist all of these messages?!! and I would have felt really really bad if the bunny wasn't there later in the week, so I just trekked out there and got it.

I did decide however, that the bunny was going to hang out with me and do some photo ops before she was packed up and sent to New Hampshire. Bunny may hang with me for a few days or a few weeks. I'll just have to wait and see :)

My first bunny stop was at the mailbox when I got home with the bunny. She fit so perfectly! I have to get up on my tippy toes to see inside my mailbox, but the bunny got a good view and let me know that I missed a postcard in there.

Then we took a ride in the elevator on the way to the 5th floor! It was an exciting time for both of us.

Bunny is sitting here with me watching TV right now. We are both pretty bummed that the DVR died today. This means that we have to watch the TV program or turn it off. No recording, no pausing, and more importantly - no forwarding through commercials! It's pure torture. I think bunny needs me to hide her eyes.

I'm so happy that my friend Bob is so creative. This wouldn't have been funny if it weren't for her :)

Love you Bob!!!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week.
Kristin

POTD - Queens Hotel

Queens Crescent Hotel - by Kristin Corlett

This is a sign that hung on the balcony of the Queens Crescent Hotel on the Isle of Man. We stayed on the Queen's Promenade in the Queen's Hotel, but I do believe that sign this was on a hotel just down the road.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Monday, November 23, 2009

Pie & Calendars

I've been thinking about Thanksgiving and when I think about Thanksgiving I think of pie. I was talking with my neighbor today and she was telling me that one of the local grocery store chains has run out of canned pumpkin. Can you believe it? There's apparently a shortage!

The next few links can help with that pumpkin shortage and if you are so inclined you can make some of these cute looking pies!

Not Martha - How to make tiny pies. This is the place where I first heard of such a thing. I bookmarked this page, but totally forgot to say anything about it.

Lloyd and Lauren - Short and Sweet. These are technically not pies, but they are small frozen treats and they look delicious.

Lolly Chops - the Download and Print page. The first three posts includes the Eat More Pies download and the pie printables in both tree motif and a turkey motif. They are near the middle/end of each post.

Our Best Bites - Tutorial on how to make single serve pie. The second picture above is from this site. It's a really great tutorial and Best Bites and Lolly Chops have gotten together to make the printables and the tutorials. It looks like a good collaboration!

Here's a list of some printable calendars from Decor8. Oooh, there are a lot of fun ones in this lot. These aren't free, but they are very inexpensive and you can print them over and over again.

The photo to the left is from Up Up Creative on Etsy. This seller has several calendars for sale and even more printable items for sale. I like these calendars, simple, basic and bold.

Decor8 has several calendar roundups - Wall calendars, desk calendars, poster calendars, and other kinds of calendars that don't fit into the above categories.

Oh So Beautiful Paper also did a calendar roundup - Part One, Part Two.

Below is the calendar that I just purchased from Lisa Samartino Atelier's site on Etsy. It's an 8 x 10 print so it will easily fit into a nice frame. I am totally in love with chandeliers so when I saw those I was pretty much a goner. I loved all of the large graphics in the calendar set.

I know this was quite a link fest, but I just couldn't stop myself once I got started. I think I have about 30 different windows open. I'm lucky I bought just one item! haha!

Have a wonderful evening.
Kristin

POTD - Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod- by Kristin Corlett

These are the three smoke stacks from the Board of Water and Light building in Lansing, MI. I've grown up calling them Wynken, Blynken, and Nod because at night they have all these lights that blink on and off from top to bottom. I don't think that name is as popular now because when I mention that my sister lives near Wynken, Blynken, and Nod I usually get a blank stare.

However, I just looked up WBN on Wikipedia and there is a reference to it being associated to the Board of Water and Light building. To read the poem Click Here.

This was a bit longer than I usually do for a Photo of the Day, but it needed to be told :)
Enjoy!
Kristin

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Page a Day Calendars

Screen shot from the Teuteberg.com site

Have you ever wanted to make your own Page-A-Day Calendar? Well, I was looking for new and exciting things to do with my photos when I found this mentioned on a photography forum. It's from the Teuteberg company and they work with people doing direct mail, but they also make these page-a-day calendars, HERE. There is a min. order of 3 calendars and they cost $25 each (plus shipping and handling of course.

Here's what the website says --

Each 5½" x 4¼" Full Year calendar (313 pages with Saturday and Sunday combined onto one page) comes on a high-gloss, black Euro-style base with an easel to beautifully display your personalized calendar.

Customize with up to 300 of your photos (i.e. - upload 30 photos and repeat each photo every twelve days; 60 photos, repeat every six days, etc.), a calendar title and even date specific messages like Birthdays, Anniversaries, Events and more!!

Start On Any Month

That's pretty cool! You can start on any month, so if you don't get this accomplished before Christmas, you could have them by the end of January or by Valentines Day. I like that you can customize the calendar to include birthdays. For me, this might involve getting my whole family in on the project as I do not have all the birthdays and anniversaries written down. It'd be a good excuse to do so!

I was thinking that this might be a good idea for those vacation photos. Maybe that trip to Ireland that we all took. I can certainly find 300 photos of Ireland and the Isle of Man.

My mind is just reeling with ideas for this.

There is another website that I use all the time (seriously, I do!) and it's the Bizarre, Wacky and Unique Holiday site. You could put the wacky holidays onto the calendar, too! This week we have...

22 Go For a Ride Day

23 Eat a Cranberry Day

23 National Cashew Day

24 It's open!!!!!

25 National Parfait Day

26 Thanksgiving Day

Well, those aren't as wacky as some I've found, but it'd be fun nonetheless.

I think I'm going to do this. I can put in some photos of the nieces, the family, Ireland, some of my photos of the day and that'll be 300 photos easy! I'll give one to each of my sisters, Mom, Dad and one for me and I've got something unique for all of us. I'm sold. I'm also pretty sure they'll be getting these in February! :)

Have a wonderful week!
Kristin

Saturday, November 21, 2009

NabloPoMo & Secret Santa

Do you all realize that it's November 21st already? This month has literally just whipped by me. I've been participating in the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) which means to publish 30 blog posts for the 30 days of November. I even decided that this year I'd donate a prize.

You see, every blogger that signs up with the group that actually posts something each day for the 30 days will be eligible to win a prize from those that have been donated. I wanted to make something for last years NaBloPoMo but I got pretty distracted or something and never got my act together.

This year, however, I got my Etsy Shop up and running, so I had something to donate!! I'm so excited to do that. I now have a whopping 17 items in there. More coming soon. :) I hope the person who wins my prize finds something they really like!

Another thing that I'm doing this month is a little Secret Santa shopping for someone. I can't reveal who she is because it's a secret! But Georgie of Decisionally Challenged has the great master list and organized the Secret Soiree again this year. I've been having a lot of fun picking out items to put into the Secret Santa Gift box. I'm sure my blogging recipient will be thrilled! I think I'm supposed to have my Secret Santa gift in the mail the first week of December, so I hope to wrap up (literally!) the gift buying by Thanksgiving.

Did you know that there are only 37 days until Christmas! Eeeek.

I have already given most of my gifts to my family - but I do need to figure out what photo I'm going to use as my Christmas photo and get those ordered. I need to get them put up on my Etsy site, too, come to think of it. The first of December is almost to late to the thinking about cards, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who is planning late.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend - I'm on my way out the door at this late hour to go see New Moon.

Kristin

Friday, November 20, 2009

Bunny Tail

I went to the Sugar Bear Antique Mall today. I hadn't planned on going - as a matter of fact, I had no idea that this particular place even existed.

OK, let me start at the beginning.

A friend of mine was going to show some of her handmade items at a craft fair at Whole Foods. I didn't even know that we had one in our town, so I decided to go find it. It was on a side of town that I didn't know at all so making a dry run is a good thing :) Wednesday I went to find the grocery store. I saw the space where it used to be and looked on the door for the new address for their brand new location. I drive another two miles down the road and finally find it!

I go in, I make a few purchases, I use my debit card, click the little button for $20 cash back, and finally ask the cashier what time on Friday the handmade show starts. She says to me..."Oh, that's at Whole Foods."

Where am I? Oh, I'm at Fresh Market. I thought it looked awfully familiar to the Fresh Market that I shop on the other side of town.

So I leave and find the Whole Foods, turn around in the parking lot and go home.

As I get about a mile from my home I realize that I never got my $20 from the cashier. Oy. I called the store and they told me I could just come back and they'd cash out the drawer. I explained that I was now about 20 miles away and I wasn't going to turn around. They were going to need to hold it for me. I'd be back on Friday (because I was coming back to go to the craft thing at Whole Foods.)

Fast forward - today. Friday. I drive over to Whole Foods. No craft fair. I go inside. It's giant! I might make a trip over to this place again, like maybe on Sunday when the craft fair will be taking place. sheesh.

I leave there and head over to Fresh Market to pick up my $20. I got my money and noticed these GORGEOUS flowers at their entrance. I never did look to see the name of this particular flower. Then as I was leaving the parking lot I noticed this little antique mall across the street. I decided to go in.

I had so much fun at the antique mall. The Christmas items were out in full force and I got a lot of really lovely photos. I'll be showing the Christmasy items in December, but remember that little bunny at the top of this post? It spoke to me. It was about 5" high and was green pottery (always a hit with me) and when I turned it around, it had a little cotton tail.

At first I made a little sigh that his little tail was torn off - then I realized! This little bunny HOLDS cotton balls! You pull the bunny tail to get them! hahahahaaa What a hoot!

The little green bunny will hopefully be a lovely addition to someone elses home, as I only took its photo and wrote a blog post about it :o) (by the way, he was marked at $30.)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Kristin

POTD - Ropes

Ropes - by Kristin Corlett

Last year Tom and I went on a 4 day cruise over Christmas. This tug boat was in the first port of call in the Bahamas. I've been thinking about Christmas lately and remembered this cool photo and went in search for it. Now I'm thinking about the Bahamas!

Enjoy!
Kristin

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444, from Half-Past Kissing Time, hosts Friday Fragments each week. It's a great excuse to get all those little snippets that gather in the brain and don't seem enough for one post but together they can make one fun blog post! I've been scribbling ideas for FF all week. I've probably got 5 or 6 post-its sitting here with funny, interesting or even witty things that have happened this past week. I had so many that I couldn't possibly post them all! I hope some of the witty or funny posts made it on here today :) I love to have you smile when you come over to visit. Please visit Mrs. 4444's Fragmented post so you can find even more severely fragmented posters like me.

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I'm going to start off my Friday Fragment post with one of my favorite subjects - Free Printables!

I found this incredible site that has lovely printables for Thanksgiving & Christmas and many many other holidays. The website is called The Toy Maker. If you are looking for some fun items for your Thanksgiving table, there are printable place cards, a pilgrim family, the Mayflower, napkin rings or even turkeys to print and color. Thank you Toy Maker!

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Have you heard the Overstock dot com commercials where the woman is singing about all the things you can purchase from their website? I'm having trouble with the chorus... "O O O the big big O, Overstock dot com."

I hear that song and laugh every time. I can't be the only person that thinks the "big big O" as being something sexual. I just can't think of it any other way!I get a little flushed every time it comes on TV!

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I stumbled upon Magic Boxes the other day. What a fun idea for a homemade gift - especially if you have those gorgeous scrapbooking papers in your stash. You can even fill your Magic Boxes with little treats or other small items.

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"We hope you've received good news today. Thank you."

I heard this phrase when I was standing in line at the Post Office. The USPS employee said this as she was handing a package to a customer. I thought that was just a one time statement until she said the same thing to me as she handed me the certified envelope that I had to pick up...from the IRS. :)

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San Francisco plays CandyLand

Pic of the Day: San Francisco Plays Candyland

In August, Lombard Street, a famous attraction in San Fracisco, was transformed into Candyland! It was Candyland's 60th birthday and a great time was had by all. If you'd like to see more photos, shoot on over HERE. They have a ton of fun shots of the day.

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under the Learned Something New category...Unsalted butter.

I found myself reading about this cake, here, and even though I wasn't interested in the cake at the moment (which is truly amazing that I just said that!) I found myself compelled to go to the comment section and start reading. I ended up learning something that I didn't know. Now that I read it, it makes perfect sense, but I'd never thought of it before.

Karin's Mom says:

Tim,
Why do you use unsalted butter in most recipes? Is using unsalted butter a health choice or does unsalted butter have a cooking purpose?

Tim says:

Hey Karin’s Mom: Recipes call for unsalted butter as a way of controlling salt content. Since salted butters all contain different amounts of salt it would be impossible to predict final results. Recipes would not be as accurately duplicated. By using unsalted butter and adding salt yourself you are more likely to replicate what the recipe’s creator had in mind. You can still use salted butter for a recipe like this, you would just reduce the additional salt you are adding to the recipe. In this recipe I would probably just add a pinch of salt. Hope that helps!

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I saved money!!! For the past two months my garbage disposal has been making very weird noises, getting stuck so tight a few times that I had to get out the "fix-it wrench" and even had to press the reset button a few times. I asked my husband several times if he would help me figure out what was wrong, but he pretty much refused or forgot. After spending so much time with a plumber this week (see my post 10 hours) I decided to try to figure this out all on my own before I called my new plumber guy over to fix this problem. So I turned off the power to the disposal :) grabbed a flashlight and was prepared to dive into the disposal to figure this out. As soon as the light from the flashlight hit the inside of the disposal I heard, Ahhhh!!!!! One of my washcloths had gotten in there. It was so tight against the side of the disposal that it was no wonder I couldn't see it! I really did look in the disposal several times, honest! I don't know how I missed it. But anyway, I found it, I removed it, it didn't cost me a service call or a new garbage disposal!!! Yay!!!

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I hope you have a fantastic week and have a wonderful Holiday next week if you are celebrating :) Thanks again to Mrs. Fours for putting together our Fragmented Fridays!

Kristin

POTD - Mimic

Mimic - by Kristin Corlett

Taken at the Julington Creek Marina in Mandarin, FL. I don't think it's any mistake the the roof line is so similar to the bow of those boats.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Cheap Thrills

Welcome to my Cheap Thrills edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. I have been wanting to talk about this little exchange that took place on Facebook the other day, but didn't quite know how to title it. When I came up with Cheap Thrills I thought it would make a tongue in cheek "Thrifty" post! I hope this story puts a big smile on your face.

Thanks Leigh for putting this together each week!

My sister Alison asked a question on Facebook and she got 17 responses. One of those responses was from my youngest sister. It turned Alison's question into one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I hope you find it to be just as fun!

Click on the photo to make it larger & easier to read.

Several people commented including myself that the TV show she was thinking of was "Greatest American Hero" which aired for only three seasons from 1981- 1983. Below is the minute and a half TV intro. Brings back a lot of memories!

Have you seen this show? I only watched it a few times, but I remember the opening credits very well.

THEN (my youngest sister) Hillary said...

Oh my goodness, I'd never heard this before! Thankfully there is a video of this Seinfeld clip. It's a hoot!

So, my Thrifty Thursday post for this week is a cheap thrill! Something funny that makes you laugh right out loud and doesn't cost a thing. I hope you enjoyed! Please leave me a message as I'm not at home :) but please visit the other Thrifty Thursday participants as they have a lot of great ideas, too!

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - Fall in Florida

Fall in Florida by Kristin Corlett

This leaf was just hanging out on the walkway next to my mailbox. Fall in Florida means lot of bright sunshine with very little humidity. It's been a gorgeous past few weeks with the temperatures in the 70's during the day and the upper 50's at night.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

I comment

Unknown Mami has a new regular feature called I Comment Therefore I Am. Mami's Comment Carnival may be a weekly event (on Monday's) or a monthly event. She hasn't quite decided yet since this is the very first one! Congrats Mami!

I know there are a lot of times that I make a comment on someone else's blog and I think that it's just hysterical and wish I had additional places to share it. Almost as often I make a comment on someones blog and hope that no one reads it!

Lately I have been miles behind in my blog reading and I'm really missing my blogging friends. I'll get back to my rhythm shortly, however, I have managed to make a few funny comments, so here they are! I have a quote from the original post and my comment below it.

I almost bought some furniture I really don't NEED,and spent money we really don't HAVE just so I could get the "free" television being offered with the package. I'm a salesman's dream come true. From The Human Race 600

I heard a commercial like that while I was getting ready this morning and heard myself say out loud - "I wonder what I could buy to get that TV?" Then I said in response, because I always answer, "Why a TV of course!"

The best part of our day in the city was the drive home. I have a size 10 lead foot. I get a speeding ticket at least once a year but somehow, my license is clean. At least the cop who pulled me over on our way to the city thinks so. Lucky... I guess. We had dinner at Bruce's restaurant yum and he rode home with us. from Just Eat It

I read the section about speeding a few times. I still can't figure out why the police officer went to dinner with you.

*I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure the only reason I don't die each night is because of my totally awesome, totally hot like a baked potato heated mattress pad. Cuz that thing keeps me toasty warm. ALL NIGHT LONG. (Sung in my best Lionel Richie voice.) I highly advise you get one if you don't already have one...if you live in a freakin' cold climate like Maine. Cuz if you live in Arizona or California, I highly doubt you'll appreciate it like I do. from - The Wonderful World of Weiners.

OK I have to tell you - that I have the movie "Wedding Singer" on right now and in the background Lionel Richey is singing "All Night Long." It was the the very second that I got to that part of your Fragment. I think I'm a little freaked out. I mean what are the chances!!

In my post (here on The Goat) on Palm Trees - I was talking about the trimming process of the trees...absolutely riveting, folks. haha

Unknown Mami left a comment

I had no idea that palm trees get Brazilians. Crazy!

I about keeled over from laughter.

I hope you have enjoyed this feature. I hope to include this as a regular installment. For more fun, head on over to Unknown Mami! Thanks!
Kristin

POTD - Condo Palm

Condo Palm - by Kristin Corlett

I used a little photoshop and turned my photo of these palm leaves into a "poster print." I thought it looked kind of cool. These short little palms are under the entry way of my condo building. You can see another one of our buildings in the background.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Monday, November 16, 2009

10 hours

Last night (Sunday) at 9pm one of my tenants called me to tell me that their toilet was not working properly. She said that she and her daughter had been using the plunger on the darned thing for a few hours and they were finally giving up.

So, at 9pm I called a plumber.

at 10:30pm the plumber arrived, snaked the drain and flushed the toilet a few dozen times and the toilet worked fine.

This morning at 9am my tenants called.

The toilet was stopped up again.

This means that there is something seriously wrong. So I called the guy back who came out the evening before and he and I had a pow wow in the bathroom trying to figure out what was wrong. Finally he pulled the toilet and discovered several things wrong.

After a few hours of trying to make what we had work - the plumber and I loaded up in my car and went to Home Depot. I decided to buy a new toilet, a new flange and hopefully have a toilet that didn't run over!

More hours have gone by - taking the flange out was a good idea as the flange was too small for the job it needed to do, but once the flange was removed the horror of the situation was beginning to reveal itself. There was a 6" thick slab of concrete some of which needed to be chipped away in order for the new flange to be installed.

Finally at 7pm the two plumbers (we gained one mid way through) were ready to set the new toilet. We were all ready. except.

The new toilet was the wrong size. It was 10" from center rather than the standard 10" from center (or something like that.) The plumbers took off for Home Depot once again. They came back over an hour later without a toilet. Both HD and Lowes in our area carried only the standard 12" from center toilets (!!!) the 10" ones are common for trailers and other small home types.

The boys temporarily set the toilet for my tenant at an angle so she would have a bathroom to use, but will arrive in the morning with a new toilet of the correct size. I am positive that tomorrow will be quick and easy. The boys assured me that their plumbing distribution place carried the 10" toilets and we wouldn't have to worry about calling around the state to find one of them.

I don't believe I've ever had to hang out for 10 hours while a toilet was installed. This must be a record. It doesn't surprise me though. It seems with these renovated condos that the everything was cobbled together. We didn't know it at the time of course, but if something goes wrong it is never easy to fix.

sigh.

I didn't take any photos of our adventures today, but I think I'm putting the plumber on my Christmas List.

POTD - Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes by Kristin Corlett

Taken down by Neptune Beach in Jacksonville, FL. These three starfish were in the front window of a home. Love the 60's ribbed glass. (or is that 50's?)

Enjoy!
Kristin

Sunday, November 15, 2009

sunset

I finally got some sunset shots! The top one is of the woods behind our condo. It's nice being on the 5th floor when it comes to sunset shots. We get to see over the tree tops!

The second photo is of the little lake between our condo and the shopping center. I can see the fountains from my 5th floor perch. There is another condo development circling the lake - it's their lights that you can see reflected in the water. The sky this evening was so purple. I loved it. This shot is not from my condo, but rather from the parking area of the shopping plaza.

I was going to chat more tonight, but I have an emergency plumbing issue with one of my rentals. Ahhh, fun!

Have a wonderful week!
Kristin