FeeFiFoto Blog

I Think My Favorite November Holiday, Aside From My Birthday, Is "Use Even If Seal Is Broken Day": Unusual Holidays

Order personalized photo calendars from FeeFiFoto as outstanding Christmas gifts, but make your calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates.

November seems to be a month to celebrate scads of creative innovators, including James Naismith, Madame Curie, Margaret Mitchell, Marie Antoinette, Aaron Copland, Georgia O'Keeffe and Voltaire.  See if anyone notices if you add some of these kooky dates to your 2009 personalized photo calendars.

November

1
Plan Your Epitaph Day
My Birthday!

Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Harmless (I Hope) Quirks

• When I unload the dishwasher I like to leave all the drawers and cabinet doors open once I've put something in them.  When I've finished putting away all the dishes I like to work my way around the kitchen, slamming doors and drawers.

• I let the garbage disposal fill up until the sink won't drain any more; then I run the disposer and watch the water bubble up from the sink.

• I always start brushing my lower left molars first.  This started when I was a kid and the dentist warned me I was working on a cavity there.  I eventually got the cavity but I still start my brushing there anyway.  If I start anywhere else I lose track of where I've been.

Just In Time For Christmas -- Oops -- Halloween

Photo personalized princess and superhero DVDs, in time for Christmas and as a follow-up to Halloween

Halloween is coming, in case you hadn't noticed due to obsessing to the point of droolage about why stores have been packed with Christmas stuff since you began your back to school shopping.  Seriously, one of our town's radio stations changed to an all Christmas format a couple of weeks ago.  At first I thought it was a mistake or a joke but they've been at it all day every day since then and there's no sign that they're letting up.  I've accidentally clicked on Alvin and the Chipmunks' Christmas song twice, which is just about the number of times I'll need to hear it this calendar year.

Wordless Wednesday: This Might Make Sense If We Lived In Alaska

But we don't live anywhere close to Alaska -- we live in the Midwest.

Goodie Goodies: Giveaway

Karen, from A Blog Of Goodies (Hi Karen!  Big air kiss -- mmwaah!), is running two giveaways with prizes from FeeFiFoto; one prize is a porcelain snowflake ornament with your photograph:

and the other prize is a canvas tote bag, also with your photo:

The rules are easy, so I'll let Karen take over from here:

"This giveaway is for anyone with a mailing address within the U.S. only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

You MUST do #1 to be eligible to win the prize. After that, #2 & #3 are optional ways to gain an extra entries. Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Each person can earn up to 3 entries.

1) Head over to FeeFiFoto and take a look around. Come back here and post a comment telling me which item (other than the 3 pictured in this post) you would most like to have for yourself.

2) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Then leave a separate comment telling me that you did so.

3) Vote for this contest on Contest Live. Then leave a separate comment telling me that you did so."

The winners will be chosen on October 31 at 11:59 p.m., which coincidentally happens to be the commencement of my birthday, so there you go.

What Are You Eating For Breakfast? Funny Bill Cosby Video

What's wrong with chocolate cake and grapefruit juice for breakfast?

My London Flat Couture (lovely site design, by the way) writes that she might not have indulged in a muffin for breakfast if it had been called "Chocolate Cake" instead of "Chocolate Chip Muffin."  Because my mind wanders if it's not wearing the electric fence mind collar, I recalled this extraordinarily funny piece from Bill Cosby:

via videosift.com
By the way, here in FeeFiFotoville we sometimes eat vegetable or chicken noodle soup for breakfast, or macaroni and cheese.  Who cares?  If we eat slowly enough it turns to lunch anyway.

If I Could Own A Robot, It Certainly Wouldn't Be Making Phone Calls For Me

"Momm?  Some guy just called, I think it was a recording, his name was something like Rudy Giuliano?  He was saying things like "Did you know Barack Obama blah blah blah?'  He was calling for John McCain.  I hung up."

Thanks Cleo.

When will this election be over?

Thursday Thirteen: Am I The Only One?

1. Am I the only one who finds closeup photos of food kind of disgusting?
2. Am I the only one who wonders why it's necessary to use politically correct language when referring to "disabled" cars?
3. Am I the only on who didn't like "E.T."?
4. Am I the only one who thinks that when the temperature falls below 45, teenagers should stop wearing shorts and flip flops?
5. Am I the only one who thinks Madonna's overrated?
6. Am I the only one who thinks it makes a lot more sense to take your kids to the mall, buy them lunch and a box of Legos, and let them run around the indoor playground for an hour, than to spend $45 a person for admission to Legoland?
7. Am I the only one who wonders why women's dresses and gowns never seem to have sleeves any more?
8. Am I the only one who thinks cilantro should be outlawed?
9. Am I the only one who didn't care for The Kite Runner?
10. Am I the only one who's never seen one episode of American Idol, Project Runway, Survivor or Big Brother?
11. Am I the only one who isn't bothered by bagpipe music?
12. Am I the only one who doesn't understand the point to mountain climbing?
13. Am I the only one who wonders why the characters in the Harry Potter books, most of whom can produce powerful magic, still use fire for cooking and lighting?

Rest In Pieces

I bet I'm clutzier than you.

As you may recall, if you've been paying attention, I'm not a ballerina, gymnast or tightrope walker.  In fact, I'm one of the clumsiest dolts you might ever know.  My friends and family beam at me fondly and murmur: "Good Lord!  Get out of her way before someone gets hurt!"

Two days ago I took a bath.  A real bath, not a shower; I was freezing and needed to warm up.  So I ran the water, lay out my towel, sneaked away with the book Robespierre and I have been squabbling over, and prepared to appreciate a nice, long soak.  When I was sufficiently warm and sweaty comfortable I stood up, because how else are you going to get out of the tub without standing up, huh?  Whereupon I slammed into the lovely antique frosted glass chandelier that hangs stupidly intimately low over the tub, knocking out one of the five pieces of antique frosted glass (can you see where I'm going with this?), which exploded against the tub.  Pieces of antique frosted glass flew all over the bathroom, but not before an enormous fragment of antique frosted glass landed on my foot.

Abandoning The Attacks For One Evening

While cruising Entrecard I found the following videos on Sjeltur, taken at the annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner on October 16, 2008.  Alfred E. Smith, a four-time governor of New York beginning in 1918, oversaw the implementation of legislation to improve factory conditions, welfare services and housing requirements during his terms as governor.  The foundation named for him has raised millions of dollars since 1945 to benefit healthcare causes.

The Foundation
"Founded by His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Spellman in 1946, to honor the memory of Alfred Emanuel Smith, New York's renowned Governor and patron of the "Little People", the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation supports and aids the poor, sick, and underprivileged of the Archdiocese of New York, regardless of race, creed, or color...

Detention, Young Lady!

Miss Puppy attends day care occasionally.  Now before you start laughing at me or condemning me for pampering or spoiling my dog, I admit it -- she's pampered and spoiled.  On the other hand, she's the sweetest, loveliest, cuddliest creature on the planet, which surely kind of makes up for all the things she's chewed or mutilated in the past two years.

Thursday Thirteen: Ways To Show Your Kids You Love Them

1. Don't allow them to be rude or inconsiderate. 
2. Don't put their beds against cold exterior walls.
3. Don't allow them to get away with breaking rules.
   
4. Don't cut off their hair in the middle of the night, no matter how shaggy it's become.
5. Don't carry a coffee mug decorated with a photo of that first diaper change.
6. Don't move while they're away at camp and leave no forwarding address.
7. Don't squawk if they want to eat pizza or vegetable soup for breakfast.
8. Don't let them get away with dishonesty.
9. Don't make them take accordion lessons.  Ukulele might be okay.
10. Don't let them wear black socks with white sneakers.
11. Don't let them get out of the car until it's stopped moving.
12. Don't let them eat all that Halloween candy at once; how else will you be able to go through it after they're asleep?
13. Don't be stingy with hugs and kisses.

Pinch Hitter

Since I'm still suffering from an inexplicable brain freeze, (is there an antibiotic for that?) I'm posting something by someone way more eloquent than I am, considering that for the past week I've produced practically nothing.  My Technorati rating is sinking like the stock market; on the other hand, Cleo's (Hannah Fanna's) is steadily rising.  Maybe she's stealing my thunder.  By the way, go check out the name she gave her new stuffed animal -- it might make you laugh.

Thank goodness I have unlimited access to the inimitable Artypantys, as well as a certain degree of influence.  She's given me permission to post the following piece of writing as a guest post; she wrote it for her freshman English class.

Umm -- yeah  -- I said freshman English.

Enjoy.

"Somewhere between an Apollonian and Dionysian existence lies the city of downtown Napa. This is not the Napa of hills and valleys, neither is it the Napa of pamphlets, of wine tours, nor the Napa of a quaint bed and breakfast overlooking the vineyard. This is not the place your sister in-law recalls romantic weekends spent away from the hustle and smog West of the bay. This is not where your brother knelt upon a single knee on the terrace of a gourmet restaurant with a fancy French name to propose at the perfect moment of sunset, so I’ll spare you the grief.

Raise Your Hand If You've Ever Heard Of An Alaskan Klee Kai

You're not imagining it -- I posted this piece a couple of weeks ago. Since then I've tweaked it so I'm posting it again.  And I can do that.  Why?  Because it's my blog.

So there.

With all this publicity about Alaska swirling around, let's test our knowledge of Alaskan terminology, shall we?  Who knows what an Alaskan Klee Kai is?

Is it a boat?

 

Image courtesy of Planet Earth Adventures

No, that's a Kayak.

It Doesn't Matter Who You Intend To Vote For

If you're a politician, you've gotta hold babies.

You simply must visit this site, called Yes We Can (Hold Babies).  There you'll see several dozen photos of Barack Obama cuddling and playing googly eyes with babies and children.  One of my favorites is this one, captioned "Michelle? Michelle?  Can I bring this one home?":

No matter which way you're leaning, you must admit that it's heartwarming to see any man so sincerely taken with little children.  My father's that way -- he's never met a child or baby he hasn't liked.

By the way -- thanks to Hannah Tennant-Moore at Strollerderby for pointing out this site.

My Grandparents Would Have Tried This If They'd Thought Of It

The Great Schlep

Came across this while wasting time and ignoring my kids pursuant to my assiduous study and analysis of the upcoming election:*

From Salon:

"The Jewish Council for Education and Research, which endorsed Obama, is trying to capitalize on McCain's stalled momentum by sponsoring "the Great Schlep," which "focuses on encouraging young Jews to visit their grandparents in Florida during the Columbus Day Weekend" and convince them to vote for Obama. As an added incentive to Bubbe and Zayde, the JCER provides pledges for the grandkids to sign promising to call more often during an Obama administration."

(Italics mine)

*WARNING to anyone not familiar with Sarah Silverman: Do not play this video at work.  Or in front of your kids.  Or in front of your parents.  Or at school.

Who Knew Cross Country Was A Contact Sport?

The dangers inherent in cross country running

 

Photo lifted from BabyPoobarellah

Robespierre signed up for the cross country team this year, his first year of middle school.  His other choice for the fall would have been soccer but I thought he might enjoy a more individual sport, and he agreed.  His decision was also influenced by the exchange student Curley's family hosted a couple years ago, a German boy, lanky as a giraffe, who is a champion long distance runner at home and who won all kinds of races while he was here, despite the occasional stress fracture and wrong turn.

Wordless Wednesday

AHA! -- Take On Me

Even when I was wearing big hair balanced by big shoulder pads, I found the original version of this video pretentious, with its self important pencil-drawing animation and its pseudo-ballet choreography.  This updated version puts the song, the video and the over-ambitious fluffy 80's hair in perspective.  Enjoy.

By the way -- is that Princess Diana?

 

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Choose, Already

Enough already!  How could possibly not know who's going to get your vote?

As we all know, the 2008 election campaign has been going on since approximately the Jurassic era, give or take a few millennia.  This fact is extraordinary for many reasons, one of which is that a minimum of two of the four presidential / vice presidential candidates most likely were not alive when the campaign got underway, and therefore campaigned first through surrogates and later as embryos.  Many kudos to them for their dedication pre-conception, in utero and post partum, along with our assurance that the entire ordeal will soon be over, allowing them the winter off before spring training the next campaign commences.

Tonight's debate audience will include 100 undecided voters; in addition, a very cursory, unscientific examination of Google turned up a recent AP - Yahoo! News poll that claims up to 18% of the electorate still isn't sure who will get their votes.

Which brings me to ask:

How, at this late date, could any voter claim to be undecided? 

When I Have Nothing New To Say, I Repeat Myself

Raking leaves with enthusiastic support from the family dog

I'm so bogged down in election information (all right!  enough already!  I've made my decision -- can't we just get it over with already?) that I can't think of anything interesting to write.  Not just interesting for you, Dear Reader, but also for myself; I'm so bored with myself that if I could walk away from myself I would, but that would probably be painful and messy.

So enjoy a piece I posted about a year ago, which is just as applicable now as it was then.

Setting:

Scene 1:
Autumn, one acre property entered via steep, 180 foot driveway

Scene 2:
Autumn, interior

Set Decoration:
Well over two hundred (200) trees

Cast of Characters:
One (1) Mom (hereinafter referred to as "Mom"), one (1) medium sized puppy (hereinafter referred to as "Pup")

Props: One (1) push broom

Costumes: One (1) belt, one (1) six foot (6') leash

SCENE 1: Leaves fall from trees, forming a creeping glacier of leafage all the way down the driveway.

Mom: "Hey Pup!  Let's go clear the driveway."

Pup: "Arowf!"