FeeFiFoto Blog

FeeFiFoto Fame Contest: You'll Be As Famous As Michael Jackson, Without The Controversy

A Contest Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen

It's time once again for the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest.

You've seen contests to win beauty supplies. You've seen contests to win baby supplies. You've seen contests to win computer supplies. Now for something completely different:

Enter this contest to win FAME.  And a gift certificate.

You'll be as famous as Michael Jackson (again) but without having to keel over and leave chaos in your wake.

The winner of this contest will have one favorite photograph incorporated into a landing page on FeeFiFoto. Just visit FeeFiFoto, cruise around as long as you like, then come back here and leave me a comment about which item you'd like to see with your photo on the home page of my website throughout summer.  Plus, the winner of this contest will also receive a $10 gift certificate for a personalized photo gift item from FeeFiFoto.

FeeFiFoto Fame Contest: You'll Be As Famous As That Woman With The Octuplets, Minus The Hate Mail

A Contest Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen

It's time once again for the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest.

You've seen contests to win beauty supplies. You've seen contests to win baby supplies. You've seen contests to win computer supplies. Now for something completely different:

Enter this contest to win FAME.

You'll be as famous as Octuplet Mom, but without all the controversy.

The winner of this contest will have one favorite photograph incorporated into a landing page on FeeFiFoto. Just visit FeeFiFoto, cruise around as long as you like, then come back here and leave me a comment about which item you'd like to see your photo on.  No actual prize will be given -- just the right to see your photo on the home page of my website throughout spring.

Giving It Away For Valentine's Day

"Give Romance A Chance" Giveaway #2:  That's me.  Stroll on over to A Blog of Goodies and leave a comment to win a watch with your photo on the face.  It might look like this:

that is, if your kids look like these kids, but I'm sure your kids are way cuter.

We've recently added some items that would make perfect Valentine gifts; my favorites are wooden jewelry boxes that display your photo on a ceramic tile on the lid.  You can choose mahogany finish, or pecan, rosewood, maple or cherry.

Who You Callin' A Heifer? Raising Money For The Heifer Project

Last month my mother offered to send a $10 contribution to Heifer International in the name of each grandchild, to help sponsor an animal of their choice.

What's Heifer International?  I'm so glad you asked.

"Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the earth. For more than 60 years, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income...

Every gift of an animal provides direct benefits such as milk, eggs, wool, fertilizer, as well as indirect benefits that increase family incomes for better housing, nutrition, health care and school fees for children. Recipients “pass on the gift” of offspring of their cows, goats and other livestock to others in an ever-widening circle of hope.

Heifer currently works in more than 57 countries, including the U.S."

Cleo's school collects aluminum cans to raise money for Heifer.  Every year they raise enough to pay for a goat or a few rabbits; cans go for about thirty cents a pound and a goat costs $120, so those kids retrieve and crush about 400 pounds of cans a year. A flock of chicks or ducks or geese costs $20.  A trio of rabbits will run you $60.  You can buy shares in sheep, llamas, honey bees, pigs, water buffalo, and yes, heifers. 

Cleo tried to charm her way to an entire water buffalo, which costs $250; when her heavy-handed application of puppy eyes had no impact she resolved to conduct her own fund raiser.  She's collected a garbage bag full of crushed cans (five pounds = $1.50 -- woo hoo!) and she posted a fund raising widget on her blog.  So far she's received seven donations for a total of $44.

Feel like your life won't be complete until you can say you helped buy a water buffalo?  Here's your chance.  Click on over to Cleo's blog and tell her Fee sent you -- she'll understand.

Housekeeping: I'd Rather Do It Here Than In My Actual House

First, I'm suffering from a cold that makes my head feel like it's filled with cement, so if I begin to appear incoherent please bring me some frozen pasta and glue 51 cent stamps to my wrists until October gleegle frhisogrn... umm, wait -- was that incoherent?  Sorry.

Second, thanks to everyone who sent best wishes to my dad: Daisy, Nessa, Fisher, Jack, Lynn, Lydia, Carol, Mom, Alice Audrey, Jamie and Ruthie.  We got better news than we had hoped for.  As you may know, after bypass surgery the new and remaining arteries develop additional small channels that help supplement established blood flow.  One of these small tributaries has closed up but there's no need for repair; the Man From D.A.D. went home at the end of the day and enjoyed all of Sweet Talker's weekend Bar Mitzvah festivities.

Creating A Memento Of A Family Vacation: Personalized Photo Book

Remember our trip to London?
Kids!  What Are You Gonna Do?
Now Accepting Applications For The Position Of Grandchild
Teachable Moment
Her Dead Father
Jet Lag + Muscle Relaxers = ZZZZZ

Cleo and I made up a photo album of our trip.

Now.  Here comes what some might regard as shameless flogging of our photo gift site, FeeFiFoto.  If you're not interested in a bit of flogging salesmanship, then feel free to move along, but do come back and visit us tomorrow.

We made a real, hard bound book commemorating our trip, containing 100 pages and somewhere between 100 and infinity photographs of Cleo, me, Schpilkes, The Man From D.A.D., various famous London locations, antiquities, food, the occasional celebrity, and a Rolls Royce, but mostly Cleo.

Adsense Doesn't Make Sense To Me

Step One

• I want to make money from my blog.  Everyone else does; I want to too.
• I sign up for Google Adsense and create a nice looking, not too intrusive tower ad, color coordinated to my blog.
• I post my ad and wait for the money to accumulate.
• One hour later I check my tower and see that it's running an ad for one of my competitors, a company that makes photo personalized travel mugs similar to the ones we offer on FeeFiFoto.
• I sigh in disappointment and cancel the ad.

Step Two

• I investigate my options for filtering out competitors from Adsense.
• I repost my ad.

Step Three

• I remind myself that reading the instructions at some point is always useful.

Run For The Hills -- It's Auction Time: School Fundraising

Did you forget where we were?  Refresh your memory:

Run For Cover -- It's Auction Time and Auction Time, Part 2.

If we/I wanted to use the site then we'd have to find a way to incorporate photos of the kids or artwork by them into the item. Not only that, it should be large enough and impressive enough to justify the expenditure of many dollars to enrich my bank account the school scholarship fund. Photo mugs? Tote bags? Photo personalized puzzles? 

No -- way too small to incorporate photos or artwork pertaining to 48 kids. Although we could have produced 48 personalized puzzles, that would have defeated the purpose of offering a unique auction item.

Auction Time, Part 2

How to create a simple yet impressive class art project for sale at the school's fund raising auction?

As I mentioned last week, it's school auction time again, and I'm forced privileged to be involved, thanks to my  roommotherhood.  One of our jobs as room parents is to orchestrate a group project to be offered for sale by the third grade to unsuspecting enthusiastic parents.  Our main criteria are as follows:

1. Item must be easy to produce
2. Item must have the potential for bringing in lots of money
3. Item ideally (in my opinion) should originate at FeeFiFoto, my personalized gift web site, because hey -- let's spread some of that wealth around, shall we?

Vicktory Dog Wines: The Recovery Of Michael Vick's Pit Bulls

Love your pet?  Put photos of your favorite dog or cat on personalized photo gifts from FeeFiFoto, just in time for Christmas.

Remember Michael Vick?  The guy who set a shining example of exactly how not to treat another living creature?

His dogs are famous.  Their portraits are featured on labels of the Vicktory Dogs Wine Collection:

From sportsnet.ca:

"The Vicktory Dogs Wine Collection features colourful portraits of 22 dogs confiscated from [Michael] Vick's Bad Newz Kennels that now live at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southern Utah...

Each bottle includes a portrait of one of the dogs on the label. On the back, instead of a description of the wine, there's a brief story about each four-legged friend.

The pit bulls have been living at Best Friends since January while handlers try to reverse the mental damage done at Vick's 15-acre estate in southeastern Virginia. Vick, a former NFL quarterback, is serving a two-year prison sentence in connection with the dogfighting operation.

Artist Cyrus Mejia, one of the founders of Best Friends, began painting the dogs after they arrived at the sanctuary. Gone in the portraits are any signs of snarling beasts fit for a fight ring. Instead, there are cocked heads, soulful eyes and floppy ears...

Ten per cent of each sale goes to Best Friends. The money will be used to oppose dog fighting around the country and to fight laws that target specific dog breeds..."

Michael Vick is in prison, raking in 12 cents an hour.  He hopes to resurrect his football career when he gets out in July of 2009, just in time for training camp.

Meanwhile, want to meet an enthusiastic athlete who thinks of nothing more than the joy of playing the game?  Meet Wallace, and learn what a pit bull can do.

I'm not a fan of pit bulls.  Their power scares me.  I like small, fluffy dogs with floppy ears and tails, the kind whose main activity is cocking an eyebrow at me while they wait for me to jump to attention, rub their ears and serve them treats.  Nevertheless, I believe in giving animals, and people, a fair shake (no pun intended).

It's Always Appropriate To Say Thank You To A Teacher

Do you give teacher gifts at Christmas time?

My parents taught me the importance of expressing gratitude.  The Man From D.A.D. conducts himself graciously with everyone he meets.  He ran a large manufacturing company for more than 40 years, yet never felt too important to recognize anyone who made his day a little easier; he once stopped to compliment a maintenance man changing light bulbs for "making our lives a little brighter," (yes, corny). Considering how selective my dad's memory can be for names (but still not as porous as mine), I'm fairly certain he didn't recall the man's name, but that didn't stop him from offering praise and thanks.

My mother, Schpilkes, has been a non-professional fundraiser for a long time; her network of nearest and dearest friends and associates numbers well into the hundreds.  She sends a thank you note to everyone who invites her to a wedding, party, bar or bat mitzvah, luncheon, rubber-chicken dinner or official gala.  She knows how hard people work planning events, and she makes sure to acknowledge their efforts and thank them for including her and my father.

Amy at Chicago Moms Blog says:

"Now that Halloween is a pounding, sugar-headache memory, it’s time to start thinking about the other holidays... No matter what you celebrate or how you celebrate it, there’s a gift or two involved, right? ... There will be giving and hugging and “oh you shouldn’t haves.”...

I was a preschool assistant teacher for a few years... [L]ast year, the holidays came around and I got one gift. One. I didn’t teach for the gifts but I didn’t get cards or thank you’s. Honestly, I don't think anyone uttered a Happy Holiday sentiment. So, no apple mug, no chalkboard appliqued tote bag. OK, I coped. I got one gift card for which I was very grateful. It was more of the sign that no one was really appreciative of the time and effort and love I had for their child when I was with them. And according to feedback and reviews -- I was doing a good job..."

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!

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.

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.

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.

October's Full Of Strange Holidays

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

October's much more than Halloween.  In fact, we might refer to October as National Comedian Month; we have two Stooges and two Marx Brothers.  Let's tabulate them, shall we?

1
World Vegetarian Day
Magic Circles Day
Vladimir Horowitz, v. 1903

2
Name Your Car Day

In a fit of creativity while reading Paradise Lost in college, I named my first car "Beelzebub"

Bud Abbott, b. 1895
Groucho Marx, b. 1890

Two for one

Goodie! I'm A Top Pick For Guy Gifts.

Karen from A Blog Of Goodies has featured FeeFiFoto as a Top Pick for personalized gifts. 

Karen's featuring a Photo Personalized Clipboard from FeeFiFoto as a great gift for guys.  Imagine proud dad, brother or uncle, coaching dear daughter's or son's soccer team, carrying the day's lineup on a clipboard personalized with a photo of the team.

I'm also donating a Snowflake Photo Ornament (okay, the one in the photo is a heart -- we have both):

and a Canvas Tote Bag:

to ABOG's October Giveaway Carnival, so make sure to visit ABOG and sign up when the giveaway is officially announced.

Fall Fame Contest Winner

The winner of the Fall Fame Contest, Sharon at The Artist's Muse, has achieved her three months of fame!  Look for her picture on a photo throw on the home page of FeeFiFoto all through autumn.  Yay Sharon!  You're a winner! Here's a sample:

Sharon's photo is being shown on a 54"x70" 100% cotton jacquard throw.  The image is actually woven into the throw. Great as a wall hanging, or as a warm blanket for the couch

You can also put your photo on a wall hanging or throw pillow.  Perfect for the cold weather we all know is coming.  And remember -- it's not too early to shop for Christmas.

Bizarre September Holidays

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

The same holidays year after year after year.  Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Groundhog Day.  Spice up your personalized calendar with some truly bizarre dates, just to see if anyone's paying attention.

September

1

Yvonne DeCarlo, b. 1922

Emma M. Nutt Day

Who was Emma M. Nutt?  Hellooo...

Enter The FeeFiFoto Fame Contest

Graphic from Transform Destiny

You are getting very sleeeepy.  You will enter the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest.

A Contest Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen

It's time once again for the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest.

You've seen contests to win beauty supplies. You've seen contests to win baby supplies. You've seen contests to win computer supplies. Now for something completely different:

Enter this contest to win FAME.

The winner of this contest will have one favorite photograph incorporated into a landing page on FeeFiFoto. Just visit FeeFiFoto, cruise around as long as you like, then come back here and leave me a comment about which item you'd like to see your photo on. (Okay, I know that was ungrammatical, but sometimes you just have to use a preposition to end a sentence with. Oh no! I did it again!)

Anyway.

I'll draw one name at random on September 15th. Once the winner has emailed the photo to me, I'll put it on a graphic on the FeeFiFoto home page.