When did giving out Valentines in school become such a big deal?
Denial: No, you don't need to attach candy to all your classmates' Valentines. The card is more than enough.
Anger: When I was a kid we just gave out those dinky foldover Valentines and that was enough for us. We didn't need to make a whole federal case out of Valentine's Day.
Bargaining: What if I just get you a big lollipop and we'll forget about candy for everyone else? (see original image here)
Depression: We're going to be in a Depression if we don't stop spending all our money indulging the entire fourth grade
Acceptance: Fine. Go ahead and buy whatever candy you want. I'm tired of arguing. (image here)
Make personalized calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates; here are some for December.
FeeFiFoto has been producing personalized photo
calendars as a core part of our business since we were established. For the 2007 Christmas season 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.
Last year the kids and I designed calendars for our family,
and in addition to the usual birthdays and anniversaries, we chose one
day each month for a fictitious holiday just to see if anyone was
paying attention. January 16 was Talk Like Pirates Day, February 24 was
Walk Backwards Day, March 1 was Talk Really Fast Day, August 17 was
Snowball Fight Day, and November 2 was Kiss Your Mom Day. We also
acknowledged some legitimate holidays and anniversaries, like the Ides
of March (March 15), Beethoven's Birthday (December 16) and the
anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride (April 18). It was fun and silly.
Here are some silly, and real (supposedly) holidays you can add to photo calendars.
December
1 Eat a Read Apple Day National Pie Day Mary Martin, b. 1913
In honor of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and, what the heck, Cyber Week, through December 5
Order Personalized Photo Ornaments from FeeFiFoto before midnight on December 5 and receive 20% off. Apply coupon code ORNAMENTS09 at checkout.
Congratulations. Now this song will be running through your head until at least December 26th. You're entirely welcome.
In honor of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and, what the heck, Cyber Week, through December 5
Order Personalized Photo Ornaments from FeeFiFoto before midnight on December 5 and receive 20% off. Apply coupon code ORNAMENTS09 at checkout.
A few weeks ago I emailed BlogHer to ask for an easy way to locate other BlogHer bloggers, since my scattered brain can't seem to cope with a Chinese-menu-sized list of blogs and whenever I explore I end up choosing sites with cool names that haven't been updated since April because apparently they used up all their creativity on cool names and have nothing left to devote to actual writing and then I get frustrated and disgusted and give up and go back to reading Daisy, Bossy, Cupcake and The Blogess.
Their response was quick and clear: click to the BlogHer advertising page and select from the list of blogs in the column on the left. So I tried it and found some impressive sites and I was all Lalalalala* and then I noticed... The Search Widget.
I didn't want to startle it by making any sudden moves so I tiptoed carefully and quietly around it and then I uploaded it here and gadzooks! not only does it provide short and constantly rotating lists of BlogHer bloggers, but one day last week it even featured mine! That means it works! And it found me! And I'm popular! Or something!
Do you have a pet widget? Why or why not?
*Spellcheck suggested Balalaika, Lallygagged and Phenylalanine as alternatives for this word. Really, Spellcheck? Seriously?
In honor of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and, what the heck, Cyber Week, through December 5
Order Personalized Photo Ornaments from FeeFiFoto before midnight on December 5 and receive 20% off. Apply coupon code ORNAMENTS09 at checkout.
Order Personalized Photo Calendars
from FeeFiFoto before midnight on November 15 and receive FREE standard
shipping to any single address in the Continental United States. Apply
coupon code CALFREESHIP09 at checkout.
Offer Expires: November 15, 2009
Stay tuned: after this offer expires you can get a discount on Personalized Photo Ornaments!
Order Personalized Photo Calendars
from FeeFiFoto before midnight on November 15 and receive FREE standard
shipping to any single address in the Continental United States. Apply
coupon code CALFREESHIP09 at checkout.
Offer Expires: November 15, 2009
Stay tuned: after this offer expires you can get a discount on Personalized Photo Ornaments!
Here's to the spirit of Christmas fellowship and cooperation throughout the neighborhood:
Order Personalized Photo Calendars
from FeeFiFoto before midnight on November 15 and receive FREE standard
shipping to any single address in the Continental United States. Apply
coupon code CALFREESHIP09 at checkout.
Offer Expires: November 15, 2009
Stay tuned: after this offer expires you can get a discount on Personalized Photo Ornaments!
It seems that with all the conveniences at our disposal (for example -- the disposall, which makes cleaning the kitchen ever so much easier than having to fish every last bit of carrot peel out of the sink strainer so I don't have to call a plumber in the middle of the night) life wouldn't be as frenetic or demanding as in Laura Ingalls Wilder's time. For example, if I want a turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas I don't have to polish up the rifle and train a long-haired turkey retriever to find a turkey to shoot, shoot the turkey and then defeather it and butcher it and build a fire to cook it and in the meantime grow enough wheat to grind into flour so I can bake bread to stuff the turkey and while I'm at it fend off hungry varmints gathering at the door because they can smell the roasting turkey and would happily tear down our front door to get at it...
Where was I?
Ah. The stress of the holiday season.
Every year I flounder through bucketsful of advice on how to make the holiday season easier, much of it redundant or embarrassingly obvious or darn near impossible, but some of it based on good sense. I found some excellent suggestions at Blisstree, the best of which, in my opinion, I've harvested to repeat here. The list is made up of 23 items.
Why 23? I don't know. Maybe there's some special symbolism to the number 23 (23 dogmas in the doctrine of the Catholic Church? 23 or so Hebrew letters in the Torah? Caesar was stabbed 23 times?)
In any case I've picked my favorites, those that don't seem too obvious or great in theory but nearly impossible to execute:
Lower expectations. Have a realistic view of what is really important. Your kids want your time. They are not going to remember the Martha Stewart decorations – unless you involve them in the making of the decorations.
Hey, I'm the Queen of Lowered Expectations, as well as the Duchess of NO, the Princess of We'll See, and the Countess of I'm Counting to Three Via Halves, Quarters, Eighths and Sixteenths. This works for me.
Ask yourself, “If I only had half the time, what would I do?” This will help you prioritize.
I need to ask myself this question every day. It seems like such a no brainer but I seem to apply it best only when I'm under extreme pressure, like those days when the smoothie has just spilled on table and the floor and the dog is lapping up the smoothie and we have to leave for school five minutes ago; on such a day the dog gets thrown in her pen, smoothie removal is rescheduled, and retrieving the newspaper from the driveway has to wait for later.
Read... stories to your children. This allows you to sit down, relax and connect.
I still do this sometimes with Cupcake. She likes me to read Dr. Seuss to her and I try not to indicate how much I love it because then she might not let me do it any more.
Remember how you felt on December 26 or January 2 last go ’round. What did you say you’d never do again? What did your kids enjoy most? How would you like to feel this year after the holidays? How can you achieve this?
This one seems so obvious but I guess enduring the holiday season is similar to going through labor, in that you seem to forget the worst parts. Write a note and put it where you'll see it next fall -- if you hated doing it last year, don't even attempt it this year.
One last de-stresser: the holidays will pass and you’ll survive. You always do.
Order Personalized Photo Calendars
from FeeFiFoto before midnight on November 15 and receive FREE standard
shipping to any single address in the Continental United States. Apply
coupon code CALFREESHIP09 at checkout.
Offer Expires: November 15, 2009
Stay tuned: after this offer expires you can get a discount on Personalized Photo Ornaments!
FREE Shipping on Calendars Now Through November 15
Order Personalized Photo Calendars
from FeeFiFoto before midnight on November 15 and receive FREE standard
shipping to any single address in the Continental United States. Apply
coupon code CALFREESHIP09 at checkout.
Offer Expires: November 15, 2009
Stay tuned: after this offer expires you can get a discount on Personalized Photo Ornaments!
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 National Authors Day My Birthday!
Returning to the core purpose of this blog, which is promoting FeeFiFoto, although writing about kids, dogs and mishaps is way more funner.
So. I've been running FeeFiFoto for just about three years. We can put your favorite photos on all kinds of stuff that makes great gifts for friends, family, teachers. I personally have a mousepad, mug, photo book and ceramic tile with photos of Cupcake on them; a photo book, travel mug and deck of cards with pictures of Robey, and several handbags with photos of Miss Puppy.
Why am I bringing this up now when I haven't written about FeeFiFoto Personalized Photo Gifts in quite a while? Well, in case you haven't noticed, the Christmas Hanukkah Chanukah Hah-Noo-Kuh Holiday gift giving season is upon us, like it or not. And with the economy still lumbering along, this year we're all being much more circumspect about how to spend our money on gift giving. This year it makes sense to put your money into gifts for friends and family that will have some lasting meaning for them. What could be better than putting the baby's photo or the dog's or cat's on a personalized photo calendar, or mug, or handbag, or tote bag?
One customer purchased 30 tiles with a photo of her mother on a show horse as favors for her mother's 80th birthday party. Another customer put her parents' wedding photo on a porcelain plate in honor of their anniversary. A third customer put a picture of her son on mousepads as Bar Mitzvah party favors.
When FeeFiFoto first started, under the profoundly boring name of Photogiftplace.com before I bought the site and transformed it into the aesthetic and retail powerhouse it now is, their main business consisted of producing personalized photo calendars; eventually they and we branched out into offering all sorts of items to be personalized with photographs. Nevertheless, even the calendars lent themselves to imaginative gift giving; one customer produced an annual calendar with a year's worth of photos of his niece as she grew up.
It's not always photographs that end up on these personalized gifts, either. One year we gave teacher appreciation gifts decorated with a graphic pertaining to teamwork. Last year I designed two tapestries with photo collages of third graders' art work to be sold at our school's fund raising auction; I seem to recall they went for $1.5 million apiece, but I could be a little off here.
For the next three weeks or so, until November 15, whenever that is, you can get free ground shipping (domestic only) on personalized photo calendars from FeeFiFoto. Just enter coupon code CALFREESHIP09 at checkout. And keep checking back because once the calendar promotion expires I'm going to be offering a discount on personalized Christmas ornaments.
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 twoStooges and twoMarx Brothers. Let's tabulate them, shall we?
Oh, and by the way -- you may recall that I published a similar post once a long, long time ago -- but this is new and improved, with great dates like Cranky Co-Workers Day
1 World Vegetarian Day Magic Circles Day International Day of Older Persons Vladimir Horowitz, v. 1903
2 National Diversity Day World Smile Day Name Your Car Day
In a fit of creativity while reading Paradise Lost in college, I named my first car "Beelzebub"
Happy Father's Day. We're still away but I'm reprinting this post that appeared a few weeks BEFORe Father's Day last year.Why don't football players ever shout "Hi Dad!" into the camera?
Search "Mothers Day Gift" in Technorati and, as of today, two weeks AFTER Mother's Day 2008, you'll find the phrase in nearly 20,000 blog posts with any level of authority.
Search "Fathers Day Gift" and, as of today, three weeks BEFORE Father's Day 2008, you'll find the phrase in just short of 10,000 blog posts.
**As an interesting side note, if you check these same terms in Technorati this year, the number of posts is about half of the total of a year ago.
No Time Mom lists all of three contests or giveaways for Father's Day.
Happy Passover to all my Jewish friends, and to all the Gentiles out there who think matzah is yummy and delicious -- just be grateful you don't have to eat it for a solid week.
For anyone who doesn't know, Passover is a Jewish holiday that comes in the spring, commemorating our escape from slavery in Egypt. Jewish families gather to retell the story of the Exodus so that we and our descendants will always remember. Different aspects of the story are represented by different foods we display on the table and eat. The youngest child present takes part in the service by asking four questions about the meaning of the holiday, and the rest of the pre- and post-meal service comprises the retelling of the story and an explanation of the various foods and traditions.
During Passover we refrain from eating anything leavened, including pasta, crackers, cookies, pancakes, cereals, and bread, of course. Instead, we eat matzah, which is a flat, unleavened cracker representing the dough that the Jews didn't have time to let rise as they prepared to flee. There are strict rules for manufacturing matzah, such as the requirement that the manufacturing process, from start to finish, take less than 18 minutes.
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.
"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.
My nephew, Stretch, spent the past semester at a strict foreign boarding school, in a sort of Junior Year Abroad program for high school students. The boys had to wear coat and tie whenever they left campus to go to town; computers and cell phones were prohibited. (Hey, it wasn't so bad -- they went hiking every day until it snowed and then they skied every day.)
The students were allowed to call home once a week, and Stretch was diligent, calling his parents every week, my parents every other week, and our house three times. In one conversation with Schpilkes he mentioned his unhappiness with missing Thanksgiving, and asked that we have another Thanksgiving dinner after he came home. Schpilkes, whose motto is and always has been "Anything for a grandchild," declared that November's festivity was to be only a dry run for the REAL Thanksgiving in Stretch's honor in December.
