FeeFiFoto Blog

There's More To April Than Taxes

Making personalized calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates; here are some for April.

FeeFiFoto has been producing personalized photo calendars as a core part of our business since we were established about five years ago.  For a long time our designs and features were relatively unchanged, but last year we added a bunch of new templates, a thousand or so pieces of clip art, and the capacity to arrange photos in collages instead of being limited to a single photo per page.  We've always had a feature that lets you enter your own family birthdays, anniversaries or special events.

Think about how smart and well-informed you'll be appear when you casually flaunt your knowledge of such esoteric dates as National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, or Jayne Mansfield's birthday.

Here's a list of essential April dates.

I'll Have The Rice, Please

The ultimate in personalized gifts

Now I’ve seen everything I’m destined to witness and I don’t have to pay attention any more.

My kids and I were strolling on Venice Beach last week, as I attempted to steer Cleo away from anyone offering to pierce body parts or paint her with henna, and distract Robespierre’s interest from objects that even my inexperienced eyes could identify as drug paraphernalia, when we came upon Vivianne Robinson, the "Nice Rice Lady", who will write your name on rice.  Not a bag of rice, or a pound of rice, or a sack of rice that the Japanese send to their relatives to announce the birth of a baby, or even Free Rice, but One. Grain. Of. Rice.

Cool.

Beam Me Up

Just drove from LA to San Diego in afternoon rush hour traffic with one potty break and only one wrong turn because the sign for the 405 was obscured by a shrub, in approximately somewhere between 2.25 and a bazillion hours, which if you get out your calculators and slide rules and carry the two although I've never understood why anyone should have to carry a two, you'll find I was driving somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 miles an hour some of the time and zero miles an hour the rest of the time.  I'm tired.  How tired?  Too tired even to punctuate.

Why drive so fast?  Because while I like BEING there, I hate GETTING there, no matter where THERE is.  When they finally perfect that "Beam me up, Scotty" business, I'm going to be first in line.

Are you tired?

Cheers.  Maybe I can be more coherent tomorrow.  In the meantime, visit FeeFiFoto and buy lots of personalized photo gifts because I'm too tired to give you a reason.

Wordless Wednesday: Excellent Advice

Just in case you weren't sure:

Again with the Frostfire Zoo

Read See more Wordless Wednesday

Thoughtful Mother's Day Gift

Special Mother's Day gifts

I saw this last year but it's so priceless I just had to post it for anyone who might have missed it.

 

See also: Collecting My Thoughts, The Right Gift

What's the most meaningful gift you've ever given or received?

Once you finally get a good picture of everyone, visit FeeFifoto and put it on a porcelain plate for Mom, Grandma, Aunt or Just-Like-Mom.

Blogroll Friday: Daisy The Curly Cat

We all have some favorite blogs we read before anything else.

How often do you click on someone else's blogroll?  It's a way less stressful way to make connections than sending fan letters to movie stars.  Sure you might get an autographed photo, but they never call, you never get invited to their parties, and sometimes they even call the police.

This week I'm continuing my practice of pointing out that I'm way smarter than you list of suggested blogs with another favorite:

Ah, Daisy, Daisy, Daisy!  Daisy The Curly Cat is a remarkably clever kitty who composes her own blog, complete with pictures.  Even though she weighs barely six pounds Daisy is a tough kitteh who's not afraid to give a lizard the serious whomping it deserves:

"Before we start with today's Monday Mystery, I must give you a warning: If you are squeamish, do not read any further. I mean it! I am not joking! This is very, very serious.

Another lizard got into my house! I was just sitting nicely looking at him, and he opened his mouth in a very MEAN way.

 

The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Noise

Is The Sound Of Music boring?

Cleo and I watched The Sound Of Music together for the first time; she's eight and although she knew a couple of songs I'd never been able to convince her to see the movie.  She enjoyed it but I had to maintain a steady patter of explanation in a desperate casual attempt to hold her interest.  The same  thing happened yesterday with Rear Window, and last year when I tried to convince my kids of the merits of Miracle On 34th Street.

I shouldn't have expected more from either of them, considering what they routinely watch on television.  Robey is partial to flash-and-blast hero programs where someone always manages to SAVE THE DAY before the last commercial break, while Cleo could watch Hannah Montana or the Wizards Of Waverly Place slip on banana peels and fall into cream pies all day long.  They're unaccustomed to any exposition lasting more than 22 seconds and they seem lost without copious amounts of cacophony.  The first time we saw A Charlie Brown Christmas I kept trying to turn the volume up; since we gave up on Barney and Teletubbies years ago I'd forgotten what a peaceful kids' program could be like.

I clearly recall enjoying The Music Man and The Great Escape when I was their age.  I can only hope that sooner or later they'll begin to appreciate more subtle entertainment than they do now.

Do they outgrow the need for constant noisy stimulation?

Visit FeeFiFoto and put your favorite kid's photo in a 30-minute action-packed Spiderman cartoon DVD.  If you can't beat 'em ... well, you know.

Sorry -- Wrong Number

Restraining over-enthusiastic preteen text messagers

Cleo and her BFF, "Rock Star," learned how to send text messages in November.  They can text, email and talk on the phone all at the same time -- not that they have that much to say to each other, but still...  Cleo hunts and pecks on my formerly state of the art Razr, while Rock Star uses her father's iPhone, allowing her to whip out message after message while Cleo's trying to answer the first one; this causes Cleo to melt down and slam my phone rhythmically into the nearest hard surface, which I suspect can't be too good for the phone.

Here's a verbatim transcript of the latest conversation monologue by Rock Star; you can guess how it ended:

After approximately two hours of back and forth (mostly forth) between Cleo and Rock Star:

"'stop texting for now
Rock Star's dad'
5:27 pm 3/18/08"

At this point Rock Star presumably sneaks the phone away from her dad:

"'Never mind!'
5:33pm 3/18/08"

And she's exuberantly off and running texting again:

"'Let's text!!!'
5:35pm 3/18/08"

But Cleo's been in another room and Cleo's mother has been ignoring the persistent twangs from the Razr that inevitably indicate a fresh supply of messages from Rock Star.  Thus:

"'CLEO?'
5:36pm 3/18/08"

Finally the text hits the fan -- Rock Star is apprehended and her wings clipped:

"'Cleo Rock Star is not allowed to text For one week. Mom.'
5:52pm 3/18/08"

As for me?  I'm relieved.  Confidentially, I think Cleo is too.

See also: Cleo

Has this 8-year-olds texting business gotten out of hand?

Visit FeeFiFoto and put pictures of your daughter's BFF on a personalized photo charm; we did.  You can even use photos from your iPhone.

Wordless Wednesday: Easter's Not So Happy If You're An Egg

From Frostfire Zoo, again.

Tackle It Tuesday: Entrecard

Day 24:  Nope -- still not writing about Entrecard

I'm still not climbing on the bandwagon and beating that dead horse -- I'm refraining from singing the praises of Entrecard, mainly since everyone else out there is doing such a good job of it that anything I could add would be -- well -- not much.

But, I would like to point out that in the less-than-a-month I've been at it I've managed to move FeeFiFoto to the top of my category, which originally was Business but now is Women's Interests because FeeFiFoto is all about shopping and strangely the shopping sites seem to end up in the Women's Interests section.

Don't believe me?  Here's actual unretouched proof that took me about 45 minutes to figure out but I learned something because now I know how to make a screen shot into a jpeg so yay me!

Thanks to cool dude Bob Rankin for showing me how it's done.  How'd I do?

Read more about Not Blogging Entrecard

Are you still not blogging about Entrecard?  If not, why not?

Visit FeeFiFoto and design a beautiful microfiber handbag with a favorite photo for Mother's Day.

Our First Site Visit

No, not a web site -- we're looking at Bar Mitzvah party sites.

There's an astonishing museum in our city designed and built in an abandoned warehouse by a madman who apparently never outgrew playing with Legos.  It opened about ten years ago with a kind of indoor playground that resembles what I imagine a Dungeons & Dragons set might look like (not that I have the vaguest idea what Dungeons & Dragons is like -- I was a different kind of nerd.)

There are fountains and hollow trees and haunted caves and rope ladders, all made from discarded building and restaurant and factory components and decorated with wondrous mosaics made from broken dishes and glassware.  There's a slide made from the closely spaced rotating thingies on conveyor belts, kind of like these, except without the wimpy padding and each one painted with abstract designs:

Another Blogroll Friday

We all have some favorite blogs we read before anything else.

How often do you click on someone else's blogroll?  It's a way less stressful way to make connections than selling Girl Scout cookies.  I was one of those not-so-aggressive salespeople who'd let my finger hover over the doorbell for what felt like half an hour.  If someone actually managed to answer the door before I could sneak away I'd say something forceful like: "You don't want to buy Girl Scout cookies, do you?"

This week I'm continuing my practice of telling you what to do list of suggested blogs with another favorite: Antique Mommy, one of the most graceful writers I've ever read.  She writes mostly about her treasured four-year-old boy, Sean, whom she loves so extravagantly and overwhelmingly that it hurts.  Her stories remind me of life with Robespierre when he was very small.

Day 20: Not Blogging About Entrecard

Learning to use Entrecard

I belong to the rapidly shrinking minority of bloggers who haven't yet written about Entrecard.  I'm sticking to my guns (so far, although I'm not sure why) but today I would like to mention that one of my new EC (that's short for "Entrecards", for those of you not yet part of the gang) friends, Saphrym, has mentioned one of my recent posts as a recommended read.

Yay me!  Yay Saphrym!

We're arranging an online playdate for our kids.  I'm bringing virtual snacks; he's responsible for virtual drinks.

Are you not writing about Entrecard?

Take a break from Entrecard and visit FeeFiFoto to design personalized photo mousepads that will make your Entrecarding more fun.

Migratory Morphin' Flu

Poor baby -- still sick

Apparently Super Awesome Fever Girl has special heretofore unrecognized morphing powers: tonight she transformed into The Incredible Vomiting Woman.  The root cause of this metamorphosis was prolonged exposure to the toxic effects of the dreaded Migratory Flu in its diabolical campaign to RULE THE WORLD: it starts as the Evil Fever, which leads to the dreaded Villainous Headache; before long they are joined by the sinister Nagging Cough and its fiendish sidekick Laryngitis.  You battle valiantly with every weapon in your arsenal: Advil, Sudafed, Robitussin, ice packs, tea, popsickles and your super-secret nuclear weapon: Mawmaw's Homemade Chicken Soup (recipe classified Top Secret; don't forget that little sprinkle of dill).  Just as you think you've got them all cornered they gang up on the sinuses and have to be removed by force must be waited out until they lose interest and prospect for another fortress to invade.

No school tomorrow.

See also: Super Awesome Fever Girl, Part I, Super Awesome Fever Girl, Part II

Don't you just hate the flu?

Visit FeeFifoto to design personalized canvas photo totes to carry all your tissues and medicines.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Ahh -- grandmothers -- where would we be without them?

Cleopatra-Queen-Of-The-Nile, alias Super Awesome Fever Girl, tried to return to school yesterday.  She made it to school okay.  She made it to her classroom okay.  She made it to her desk okay.  She put her head down on her desk, not so okay.

She lasted about ten minutes.

Headache.  Coughing.  Luckily I was still there.  I canceled my massage appointment (*sigh*), loaded her in the car, and brought her to my parents.  Cleo climbed into her personal pink bed in her personal pink room, and my mother, Schpilkes, commenced the Grandma Dance, which is quite remarkable for someone with two fake knees.  "Honey, would you like another pillow?"  "Honey, would you like a pancake?"  "Honey, eat your raspberries" (at $3.99 a carton).

Into A Nearby Telephone Booth ...

... and out comes:  Super Awesome Fever Girl, the passive-aggressive superhero.  Dressed in a flowing purple nightie cape, fueled by raspberry Jello, fortified with Advil, she flies to the rescue armed with her secret weapon: The Cough Of Power.  One cough from Fever Girl will bring enemies to their knees, begging for mercy, in five to seven days.  By then she'll be long gone, fighting the never-ending battle for liberty and germstice for all.

I Talk Good

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Blogroll Friday

We all read some favorite blogs before anything else.

How often do you click on someone else's blogroll?  I used to do it all the time when I began blogging; it's way less stressful than approaching a table full of strangers and asking if you can join them for lunch.  Eventually I became devoted to my particular favorites so by now I pretty much ignore everyone else's and just visit those on my list.  It was quite helpful when I needed to build myself a friendship club but now that I have one, or at least a stalkerhood, I visit new blogs only when they come highly recommended, or I if happen to trip over them while playing a quick game of Entrecard or Stumbleupon.

So I was thinking that it might be fun to feature one or two of my favorites once in a while, just in case you're looking for something new to tickle your fancy.  Besides, with my impeccable taste (okay, barely peccable) how could you go wrong?

Thursday Thirteen: I Watched Way Too Much Television As A Kid

I like Pokey; Gumby, not so much.

"Fruit Juicy ... Fruit Juicy.  Hey!  How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?"
"Sure."
"BAM!"

Personalize Gifts To Help Customers Remember You Fondly

Personalizing corporate gifts has become very easy.

From Biz Gift guru:

" ... While many other promotional products come and go, mugs ... seem to be always in. The shapes, the colors, the designs may change, but the mugs are always around. Why is that ?

• First of all they are relatively cheap to make ...

• They provide large area for branding. Whether it is just a simple logo or all around photo imprint, the branding on the mug is visible. Many people keep their mugs on their office desk where others see it.

• The mugs are useful and practical gift and people usually like getting them ...

• Although the mugs are relatively cheap, they do not (or should not) look cheap if well made. They are a decent gift by themselves, but also a nice part of a gift set ...

• The mugs are also mass marketing medium ..."