Scooby Doo as a methaphor for life

So my children (especially my 2 1/2 year old daughter) are obsessed with watching Scooby Doo.  I happen to love watching the old ones from back in the 70's when I was kid with them so it's a win win.  Which is not always the case because I get sick of watching some of these crappy new cartoons (can you say rhymes with bunge mob?).  Anyway as we sat watching Shaggy Scooby Doo as my daughter calls it, I started to wonder what the appeal is to my kids.  Because let's be honest the animation on the originals is terrible, they have really d list stars (of which my kids will NEVER know ... hello Jerry Reed????), the music sucks (hellooooo Jerry Reed), and the same crap/plots happens to the gang over and over again.  I mean they can watch cartoons with much, much better animation and plots but yet they ask over and over again for Scooby Doo.  So while I was watching yet another episode of Tivoed Scooby Doo with my kids I started to think about why they love it so much.  First off I think (OK I KNOW) they love Shaggy and Scooby the best.  I think it's because they can relate to them the most.  Shag & Scoob love to eat and eat everything in sight.  I know my kids would do the same if I allowed them too.  There are meals when one or the other or even both eat more than myself or my husband.  It's kinda amazing actually.  So they see Shaggy and Scooby doing what they want to!  Plus Shaggy and Scooby are just big chickens.  They are scared of everything and show it.  They aren't afraid to say that ghost (or whatever) scares me get me outta here!!!  I can so understand why this would be appealing to them.  I mean how many people in their lives fess up to being scared by things the they are??  And this brings me to the other reason I think they love Scooby Doo.  All the scary monsters/ghosts/witches/robots/animals/aliens/etc. are really just stupid adults who get caught by a bunch of KIDS.  It lets them see that all those scary things that they genuinely think are scary are again just stupid adults in bad costumes who get busted by a bunch of lousy, meddling kids and their dog.

Ten on Tuesday

1. How do you take your coffee on an average day? How do you like your coffee if you’re splurging?
I don't drink coffee everyday.  When I do drink it I get fancy smancy stuff from Starbucks or a local coffee house call Port City Java.  I usually go with a skim Caramel Macchiato or a carmello leche, they are basically the same drink just a different name at each place.  If I am desperate I will drink regular drip coffee with cream and sugar.  My splurge would be to get the drink with whole milk or 2% instead of skim.

2. What is your genre of books to read?
I read stuff all over the map.  I used to read mainly best selling fiction and science fiction but the last few years have been all about what ever catches my eye.  I have read best sellers (The Help), science fiction (The Host, The Sookie Stackhouse books, Twilight), autobiographies (Scar Tissue - autobiography of Anthony Kiedis lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers and sTori Telling- Tori Spelling autobiography), Historical fiction (Centennial by James Michener), and true crime/story type books (Under the Banner of Heaven and Into Thin Air).


3. Where do you want to retire, if you could go anywhere?
I have no idea.  I am thinking where ever my grandchildren are and hopefully that will be here near the beach.  And of course this is if I ever work long enough to make the money to retire.

4. The 17-year-old you is told to write a 10-minute speech. What topic would you have picked?
Ummmm.. well I have no clue.  I would have been petrified that I had to get up and give a speech in front of  people, I was really shy.  I most likely would have picked something to do with music or maybe my favorite artist Henri Matisse.

5. What word describes you best?
Eclectic

6. What is the next “event” that you are looking forward to? (ex.: vacation, moving, date, job change, etc)
My family reunion/vacation next week.  I will get to see a lot of my family, who I only get to see once a year.  Plus it's a vacation so it's all good.

7. Do you like to discuss controversial topics or do you prefer to avoid those types of conversations?
I love to discuss controversial topics!!  I like to see how people react and what their take on them is.

8. Would you rather add 4 free hours to each day, or add 1 extra day to the week?
I think 1 extra day but one that I didn't have to go work on.  So it would be like a 3 day weekend.

9. If you created a sports team; what would your colors and mascot be?
Blue and silver and the mascot would be a kangaroo.  Random I know.

10. If you had to be a teacher, what subject would you teach?
Ha ha!  I was a teacher and I was a special education teacher.   I taught both elementary and high school.  I like both and would teach both again if I had to (long hours and waaaayyy too much paperwork has made me want to find something else).  But I think being an art teacher would be fun too.

Summer Storms & Craft Fairs Don't Mix

Last weekend I attended my very first craft fair ever.  I had been contemplating for awhile about weather nor not I should try to sell my crafts at a craft fair.  But the only ones here locally are huge ones on the waterfront and there is one in the fall and one in the spring but they cost at least $100 for a space.  I am very reluctant to try those out,  due to cost and time involved (two whole days outside).  So as luck would have it an email popped up in my Etsy account inviting me to a craft fair in Garner, NC.  Garner is just outside of Raleigh which is about 2 hours from here.  The booth fee was only $25 so I thought I'd give it a try!  The fair was scheduled to start at 8AM but the sellers had to be on site to set up by NO later than 6:30AM according to their directions.  Since I live 2 hours away I didn't want to be getting up at 4AM to get there so I asked my brother and sister in law who live in Raleigh if I could stay Friday night at their house so I would be closer in the morning.  They were out of town but they let me stay in their house (Thanks guys!!!!) anyway.  My good friend and neighbor Jennifer came with me to help out.  I wasn't sure I wanted to do it by myself nor did I think I could physically do it with tables, tent and bathroom/food breaks.  My hubby was going to come but then we had the kids to deal with too and that would have been more of a disaster.  So I put the word out on Facebook for help.  So thank you SOOOOO much Jennifer. 

We got to the site right at 6:30AM on dot to set up.  We managed to get the tent up (not that easy and you totally need at least 2 people to do it) and tables set up by about 7AM.  Now according to the website and all the paperwork I got, I was told they would close the site to car traffic at 7AM so if you arrived late you would have to unload across the street and bring it all over.  Well this was not the case at all they let people drive in to unload until like 8:20AM.  I was not happy about that because I would not have left so friggin early to be there AND we had an hour with nothing to do because they wanted me there so early.  They also had me next to another lady selling (wait for it ... ) FRAMES!!   Yes they did that in a craft fair with 40+ sellers.  I was not happy about that at all (I don't think she was either).  But our stuff was VERY different at least.

People really responded to this mirror and LOVED to touch it

So it was finally time for customers to start arriving.  It was slow.  I am not sure how much advertising they did but I don't think it was enough because foot traffic was minimal and sporadic at best.  It was really too bad because there were some really awesome crafts people there.  I went walking around and I was really impressed with the other booths.  The fair was supposed to last until 3PM but at about 1:30 a huge thunder storm started to roll in and roll in fast.  The wind picked up and people's tents started to blow over!!  So we all started packing it in for the day.  The wind was actually troubling the whole day.  My frames kept blowing down which was not ideal because they look a lot better standing up for people to see at a distance.  But you can't change mother nature!!  I got people coming up and looking and making comments which gave me good feed back.  I sold two things which *almost* covered the cost of the booth fee.  I lost some money in gas but it was worth the experience.  I gave away a lot of business cards and got a few emails for contacts so that's all good.  I also sat and made my origami flowers while it was slow which got people over the booth and talking to me. 

 Flower Kusudama Ball

The origami flower balls got by far the most interest and comments but I didn't sell any.  Not sure if people thought it was too early to buy Christmas ornaments (most people called them ornaments) or they thought they were too pricey.  I guess I should have asked but it didn't occur to me to while we were there.  So that was the experience in a nutshell.  I would do another one again but this time I know what questions to ask (like what marketing they will be doing) and to look for ones INSIDE during the summer if at all possible! 

The Black & White Puzzle Piece Frames got a lot of comments (I sold the 8x10 version that day)

This clock got a lot of comments too

This candle got a ton of comments (my pictures never did it justice) and it sold!

Ten on Tuesday

So the instructions for this week were to put the brand or company I use for each item. 

1. Cell Phone - Verizon and I have a Samsung Intensity phone

2. Email - I have several accounts but most are on my home Time Warner Road Runner account.  But I also have a Gmail account too.

3. Toothpaste - Crest Whitening Cinnamon flavor

4. Car - Chrysler Town & Country Mini Van named Lightning by my son.

5. Writing Utensil - What ever I can find closest to me.

6. Lotion - I have several I go between depending on what scent I want that day.  But mostly I have been using Body Shop Strawberry Whipped body lotion or plain old Lubriderm lotion with 15 SPF because I am trying to be better about using sun protection ALL the time.

7. Interior Paint - What ever is the cheapest and/ or my husband buys.

8. Soda/Drink - My favorite soda of all time is Vanilla Coke but since I try not to drink too much regular soda I don't have it often (and they stopped making it in diet) but I like Diet Dr. Pepper a lot.

9. Laundry Detergent - Method in the Peony Blossom scent

10. Medicine - Not sure what they mean by medicine.  But I don't take any prescription meds.  I take a multi-vitamin and oh yeah Zyrtec for my allergies.  And my drug of choice for headaches and pain in general is Advil Liquigels (LOVE the liquigels because they really do get into my system faster).

Well that was short and to the point this week.   No rambling stories.  Could be that I'm tired and have have a headache so I am going to go take a few of those lovely Advil Liquigels right now.  Maybe I will get around to posting how my very first craft fair went this last weekend.  I wish I had remembered my camera but I didn't.  When I get some free time I will do a quick post (which means it could be a few days at the rate I'm going lately).

Ten on Tuesday

1. What is the worst movie you have ever seen?
Only one?!?!?  My husband and I have a running joke/tally about who owes who for making the other watch the worst movies ever.  So far it's 3-0 in MY favor.  He made me sit through Virus in the movie theater!!  And most recently Transylmania and Land of the Lost.  At least the last two were rentals on Netflix!!  All of these were terrible!!! 

2. Do you have a favorite Disney/Pixar film?
I am just not sure I can pick just one! For the most part all the Disney/Pixar are so good.  But if I had to pick one I would have to say Finding Nemo or Cars ... wait or The Incredibles.  See I can't pick just one!

3. Do you have a favorite movie from the 80′s?
Again I can't pick just one!  I LOVE 80's movies!  I personally own Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and The Goonies.  So I have to go with those.

4. Are there any movies you saw more than once in the theater?
Yes, I saw Twilight twice but only because I went to see it first on a date with James and then again with my friend and movie buddy Ivy.  But I did like it enough to see it twice.  And mostly I have seen kids movies more than once, like Cars which my son saw 3 times!!

5. What is one city/area of the US (or country you live if you do not live in the US) that you have not seen but would like to see?
Las Vegas.  I have been all over Europe and even to London 3 times but I have yet to make it Vegas.

6. What are your favorite toppings on an Ice Cream Sundae?
Hot fudge and caramel sauce.

7. How many proms did you go to? What color was your prom dress? If you went to multiple proms, what color was your favorite prom dress?
I went twice with the same guy.  I had the same boyfriend for 3 years in high school (4 total) and he was a year older than me so I went as a sophomore and then again as a Senior (we skipped his senior/my junior for some reason).  I wore a black dress both times!

8. Is there a sport or extra-curricular activity that you didn’t get to try as a child that you wish you would have? (e.g. gymnastics, piano lessons, ballet, etc.)
I really would have liked to have learned piano or any instrument for that matter.  Not sure I would have cared back then but now I do.  I did take singing lessons and played softball and basketball so I was pretty well rounded.

9. How many siblings do you have? Are you the oldest, middle, or youngest?
I have one brother and I am the oldest.  But I also have 6 step siblings.  4 step brothers and 2 step sisters.  Both my parents are remarried and my stepfather has 2 sons and a daughter and my step mom has 2 sons and a daughter (my dad actually adopted 2 of the kids so I guess technically they are half siblings?!?!? I have no clue).  Oh and I am the oldest of ALL of them!

10. Do you feel like you fit in with your age group? Or do you feel younger/older than your age group?
I feel like I fit in.  I'm married and have kids which is pretty much what my age group is doing right now.

Special Project

I have been folding origami flowers like crazy for the last 4 days in order to prepare for a craft fair I will be selling at this coming weekend (the 17th in Garner, NC here is the website link if your interested).  Not only will be it be my first true craft fair that I have been to but it will be the first time I have tried to sell my crafts somewhere other than to family or on Etsy.  Anyway I have made a handful of new frames but I also wanted to have a few more Kusudama balls to try and sell.

So any free time I have had (like watching TV at night with James or when the kids are playing nicely ...  ha ha like that happens that often) I have been folding flowers.  Marley has seen me do it a few times and really wanted to take one of them.  So to placate her I told her I would make her some flowers when I finished with the last ball I made.  So Saturday and Sunday I only folded flowers for her.  I was going to make her a ball but I remembered I had a photo mobile kit I had gotten for Christmas.  I haven't had a chance to use it and thought that it might be really cute to take the flowers I folded and turn them into a mobile using the kit for Marley's room.  I needed 10 flowers since there were 10 clips on the mobile (2 less than I would need for a ball so that was nice).  I finished up the last one last night and clipped them to the mobile kit.  James and I were impressed with how good it ended up looking and working!!  So this morning I took the kids up with me to Marley's room and put it up for her.  

Marley's Room

You can see the mobile in the right hand corner of her room above her new big girl bed (OK it's really just her crib with the front pulled off).  Oh and she decided she was going to start climbing out of her crib last week so we had to convert her crib to "big girl bed" until we can find a real twin size bed we like.  So I am hoping the flower mobile will help her want to stay in her new bed.  The mobile looks good from this angle but the best is from the bottom or what Marley sees when she lays down.

With flash....

Without flash....

I am so happy with the results!!!  Now my son wants one too but NO flowers he says.  Hmmm... well that should be interesting.  I am going to see if there is an origami pattern for a rocket (that's not too complicated).  Or I will do stars for his.  But that's my next special project for all the free time I have....

Ten on Tuesday

1. If given the opportunity, would you choose a mediocre job that paid well or your dream job that paid poorly?
Oooo good question!  Right now I would take just about any full time job.  But I would rather have my dream job even if it paid squat.  I would rather be fulfilled and happy than rich and miserable.

2. What is your favorite thing about the 4th of July? (For the foreigners: What is your impression of the 4th of July?)
Being with my family (aka having long weekends) and going to picnics and watching fireworks!

3. What’s the most random fact you know about American history?
Honestly it probably has to be that I know why and how the Morons ended up in Utah.  I have a slight obsession with Mormons and the FLDS church.  I have read a lot on the subject.  You too can know why they ended up in Utah if you read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer!

4. What is the best fireworks display you’ve ever seen?
I think it was in 2000 and I was on an Alaskan cruise with my family for a family reunion.  Our last port was Vancouver and it was the basically the world cup of fireworks (wish I knew the name of the event) that week.  Several countries were competing against each other and so there were fireworks every night by a different country.  I happened to see the Australia display and it was AMAZING!!  In fact I think they got runner up that year.

5. Who taught you how to put on makeup?
I'm sure my mom gave me tips but I just don't remember her sitting down with me and showing me.  I never was a huge makeup girl anyway.  I wear and have always worn it sporadically.  I always wear it for nice occasions and I go through phases where I will wear it more often but I just don't and have never worn it every day.  I like the freedom of not having to wear it everyday.

6. Have you ever gone through a financial planning process? Tell us about it.
Ummm no.  I wish I had.  I would have helped me tremendously about 14 years ago.  Oh well.....


7. What was your favorite outfit as a kid? Bonus points for pictures.
No clue. I do remember loving my Wonder Woman Underoos!!  I am sure my mom has pictures of that somewhere but I'm sure they aren't digital yet.

8. Do you prefer a beach, lake, swimming pool, or no water?
It used to be pool but now it's beach followed closely by pool.  I haven't swam in lake in years!!

9. Do you recycle? If not, why?
YES!!  I'm a tree hugger or at least try to be.

10. What are your thoughts and feelings about the Twilight Saga?
Oh well in case you missed it I did a little post about the newest movie in the saga, Eclipse here.  I happen to be a "TwiMom".  I have read all the books, seen (and own) all the movies, and was even interviewed for the local newspaper (Here it is ... oh and my really good friend Ivy is in the picture wearing the Team Jacob shirt ... some how I didn't get picked to be in the photo oh well) here about loving Twilight.  I know it's adolescent fiction but it's pure escapism for me and takes me back to a time when I too was overly obsessed with my high school boyfriend.

1 Year Anniversary

July marks my one year anniversary of being on Etsy.  Now I really didn't start selling my wares until November BUT I was introduced to the wonder of Etsy about a year ago!!  Not only have I sold many frames but I have found some wonderful products and sellers in the process!  SO in honor of my 1 year anniversary I will be having FREE shipping in my shop tomorrow July 6th!!  So stop by and check it out!!

Here are a few (OK a little more than a few but it's too hard to pick just a few) of my creations that I love and that are up on my site for purchase.

 This was the start of it all!! I LOVE origami paper.  It's just so beautiful and comes in so many designs.  I just happened to have a puzzle piece paper punch & thought it might make a cool looking frame! This is also my biggest seller!

Baby Girl frame that can be personalized with a name.  SO cute (I did a boy one with the name for my Sister in law a few months back)!

 

Origami Kusudama Ball.  I love folding origami flowers and these are just so fun to make and put together.

 

This one is named Rough Around the Edges.  Again I love working with Origami paper because it's so beautiful & this was just another idea I had to use it!

This is most likely my all time favorite creation.  I loved making the flowers & the idea for the mirror happened quite by chance.

Random Thougths (aka no creativtity tonight for a title)

I am sitting here in pretty much a tired stupor.  I have spent the last two days in this state.  The cause of my sleeplessness you ask (maybe you didn't but it;s my blog & I'm gonna tell you anyway).... Eclipse.  Yes the newest Twilight Saga (vampire teenager fun for those of you living under a rock) installment.  My good friends and I went to the midnight showing on Tuesday night with all the tweens, teens, and fanatics.  My plan was to stay up late Monday night and then take a nap Tuesday while my daughter napped.  Well my little princess decided she didn't want to nap.  I made it through the movie and got to sleep about 3AM Wednesday morning.  Bad news was that I had to get up at 7AM to take my son to camp.  But I was going to get to nap when my daughter did and go to bed early.  Guess what neither one happened.  Yet again my dear darling daughter did NOT nap and I ended up having to work Wednesday night when I wasn't supposed to.  I worked until 9:30 and managed to get into bed by 10.  Again had to get up today at 7 to take my son to camp.  I then pretty much ran around all day working and taking my kids back and forth to all the different things going on today.  So anyway my point was it's all Eclipse's fault!  I am just too old to be doing opening night especially with young kids at home.

For father's day we all went to see Toy Story 3.  My son's favorite movies for the longest time were Toy Story and Toy Story 2.  He has a Buzz figure and Woody and Jessie dolls.  So we were all so excited to see the new movie.  I have confess that I think I liked it more than the kids did!  It was so good and par for the course during Pixar movies I cried.

Oh and FYI my one year anniversary on Etsy is coming up soon!!!  And I will be running a special to celebrate so be sure to keep an eye out for it!  I will announce it here in the next week.  AND I will be doing another giveaway in very near future as well!

And now I am going to bed!