The used book table

Our local Safeway grocery store has a used book table set up just past the cash registers. It's been there for quite some time now, and every now and then something odd or interesting catches my eye. Last week, it was an issue of Yankee Magazine from 1966. I plopped my dollar into the jar (all proceeds benefit breast cancer research), and was instantly treated to loads of amazing things to scan.


Bud Kozak offers to drywash and polish my car (note the lovely toupee someone has drawn for him):


Well of course damask is fun!


Ooh, I have so much more to scan. This was a dollar well spent.

mold-a-rama

Oh man. Today's post about mold-a-rama machines (with a link to a fantastic flickr gallery) at the dinosaurs and robots blog sent me spinning back in time.



Ooh baby. I can just smell the hot waxy plastic melting. I used to beg my parents to let me get these whenever we went to the Milwaukee County Zoo. I'd press my nose up to the glass and watch the hot dinosaur (or flamingo, or gorilla, or giraffe) slide down the shoot and into my impatient little hands. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I've tossed my collection. Last time I was at the zoo, the mold-a-ramas were still running strong. I hope they stick around for a loooooong time to come.

sunday.

a blissful day of visiting the market, buying a plaid hat, eating fresh pizza outside the grocery store, making apple pie, doing laundry, napping, and cooking a marvelous dinner.

Pie, pre-oven, when the kitchen is filled with blue late afternoon light. The days are suddenly so short...


Pie, post-oven, in the lovely yellow glow of compact fluorescent bulb light, looking delicious and golden and ohmygod I just want to eat it now already.


Dave sets the table with pumpkins and candles, which makes me swoon.


Dog watches, wondering when we're gonna eat the dang pie, and more important, when we'll be sharing some with her.


And you know what? I haven't even tried the pie yet. it shall be consumed in approximately five minutes, with friends and beers in hand. but it looks and smells delicious. recipe courtesy of the fabulous alicia, if you're interested!

The list

So I pulled up to the house today and spotted a sad looking wooden thing laying in our yard. Further investigation revealed that sad looking wooden thing was actually a dresser without any drawers. How curious.

But what's that scratched into the side? A list! A best friend list! (Or is it a "best fiend list?" i can't tell.)

Awww. Let's see. There's Sara, Pave? Katie Kianna....and ooh! Look! Mom comes in at number 14.

What you can't see is #8, which says "me." Awesome. Let's turn around to the other side. What shall we find?

Jessica (star) Monkey. I think this may have been intended just for me. A gift! from the heavens! Funny to think about the little girl who did this. And it had to be a little girl. Boys don't make Best Friend lists on the sides of their dressers, and if they did, they wouldn't put their moms on that list. At least I'm pretty sure.

And furthermore, WTF. Why do people feel completely comfortable dumping their used furniture IN OUR YARD? Weirdos. I know it looks a bit forest-like, but ferchrissake, they had to walk up a hill and across the grass to get it there! Ummm...unless that's something you brought home, jamie. in that case, you may go retrieve it from the curb :-)

I'm it.

So Suzanne was kind enough to 1) ask permission to use my house tag on her blog. and 2) tag me to make a little listy of my own. I haven't done one of these in forever!

I'm supposed to list 7 random things about myself. Well golly...I could write pages of random things about myself! Here goes.

1) Speaking of tags, I'm very happy that most t-shirts are now tagless. Why didn't companies think of doing this years ago? My itch-free neck rejoices.

2) When I was in sixth or seventh grade, a boy in my art class told me I should be a tagger. I was flattered. I think.

3) I enjoy graffiti. Maybe because deep down, I wanna be a tagger. Not really...maybe I just want to be an urban renegade artist.



4) And completely not related to tags...I am coming to realize that my trigger (which has the potential to make me furiously angry, deeply depressed, or just plain violent) almost always involves traffic and/or transportation. I can work my way out of almost every other problem EXCEPT this one, and should probably not drive because of it. For reals!

5) I am the world's SLOWEST knitter. 3 years to finish a ridiculously simple scarf for my mom. Working on 2 years to finish up a scarf for my sister in law.

6) I love red licorice pipes. If someone were to send me a box, I'd love them forever because I can't find them anywhere.


7) I once had an eggplant collection as a kid. Not real eggplants, of course, but fake ones -- figurines, pillows, magnets, and the like. Needless to say, I was a rather unconventional kid.

sunday.

A wall I've always liked in Fremont

I like walls. Can you tell?

carrot nubbikins. small but delicious. z & j: go pick the rest before it's too late!

Lasers. Lots and lots of lasers.

Oh. My. God.



From what might be the best new blog ever created:
"You begged your mom to pay the extra $4. A tribute to the greatest school photo backdrop there ever was."

Personal note: I never had the lasers. But I coveted them. And also the "autumn leaves" backdrop, for that outdoorsy feel.