Happy Valentine's Day.

Eric often gives me ideas or suggestions for a blog post. And I welcome them. Because when I'm having a block, and I'm desparate and look to him for help in a last-minute situation of what I should write that day, he usually has a blank stare and tells me to skip a day. So he is not one to come up with things on the fly. So two days ago, he sent me an email out of the blue for a post to do on Valentine's Day which was a vintage ad he found online. Which I'm using for today's post.

That is one of the many things we have in common. We both love vintage advertising! However, that is where our common love of vintage ads end. Trust me. I enjoy viewing vintage ads for the reason that I was in advertising for many years designing campaigns for companies like Pepsi, Nissan or Pizza Hut.

Eric, on the other hand, likes advertising for more bizarre reasons.  He shows me these ads he finds on the internet and I just shake my head.  I don’t get it. And it’s most likely a guy thing. He shows me ads with the Three Stooges, or with Santa smoking or peddling vodka or one about an ironing board and how it's the best gift to buy your wife. His latest find was a bizarre Japanese ad. I'll just leave it at that since it crosses political correctness boundaries today. (If you would like to see a sampling of his bizarre ad fetish, check out his Pinterest board here.)

He is always laughing hysterically as he shows me and I just roll my eyes and mutter "Uh huh."  In my opinion, slapstick is humor for the simpleton. Now, I'm not calling my husband one of the simple-minded, but he loves the Three Stooges. Need I say more? I'm just saying.

When I ask him why he thinks these ads are so funny he says “No, this is different! These ads make you shake your head and ask what were they thinking! Like one of my favorites, a baby drinking soda. Then there’s the 50’s and 60’s ads with doctors endorsing their favorite cigarettes. Can you imagine? Just call me weird but I find that stuff funny! If that happened today, a mere fifty years later, the ad agency would be fired!"

Well, I agree with him about that. There's no way advertising like that would ever make it past the Art Director's desk. But in all confession-type honesty, some of the ads he shows me I do find amusing and I'm laughing on the inside. But I will never let him know that.

Picture is a vintage Valentine's Day Ad found on tressugar. ©2012 Sugar Inc. PopSugar Entertainment & Culture

I Created a Pinterest Monster.

I've received several invitations to Pinterest over the last 6 months. And I just could not take on another time-consuming network. For Facebook, I pretty much stopped making status updates. I was not on there daily anyways.

Two weeks ago my sister told me I HAD TO GO ON Pinterest! She said she was obsessed. So the next day I did. There was a small learning curve but it became pretty easy to figure it all out. The simplest way to describe it is that it's like reading a magazine for ideas but without any ads! And you can pick the subject you want. Ever do research online on gardening ideas? And you see lots of photos you like and you have to print it or save the file to your desktop? Well, with Pinterest, after you install the "Pin it" button in your browser toolbar, when you see a picture you like online, just hit the "Pin it" button and a window comes up on what "board" to pin it to on your page, select it and it's loaded instantly! You can have all kinds of boards with different subjects.

So I was telling Eric that he would really like Pinterest . He said, "No. That site's for chicks only!" I explained (in a calm voice like you do for children) that it is the perfect place to store all the photos and images he researches for our Fantasy Football League. As soon as I told him what he could do with this site, he signed up and was online until 3:30 in the morning! I am not kidding.

He's obsessed and I created a monster. I woke up this morning and he had more followers than me! It's Facebook all over again. I was on for a few years and had 70 friends. He has been on for only 7 months and he's well over 400 friends. I'm so unpopular (weep weep).

No wonder he was up until the early morning! I viewed his page and he created these long writeups for the pins he made for his "TV Shows I Grew Up With" board. If you want to see a side of Eric many don't see, read this board. Direct Link here to his Pinterest page. Hit on his "TV Shows I Grew Up With" board and you can read all the text that I have pictured below.  

Editor's Warning: at times, he does have a warped sense of humor.  If you want to view a Pinterest page from an unpopular, but normal person, visit mine. The links are at all the words that say "Pinterest".

Goooooo Pats!!!

Tomorrow I will post the rest of the pics from the Georgia Basketry workshop, because today is all about our Patriots who are in the Super Bowl (again!).

And it's another matchup with the Giants. We will be watching the game down here in Atlanta with Jud and Suzanne. Jud will be making chicken wings with Suzanne's special sauce and he's also making fried pickles. I never had fried pickles so I'm looking forward to tasting them.

Go Patriots! Go Gronk! (heads up... any comments that say 'go giants' will be instantly deleted. I know, not fair but too bad since I control this blog.)

photo from boston.sportsthenandnow.com

Life of a Basket Maker as a Romance Novel?

After I started this blog, my husband did a search for the Basket Maker's Wife online to find it (he couldn't remember the web address for the blog — I know, I'm the one married to him, so I know!)

During this online search of his, he came across a writer of romance novels who wrote a book titled The Basket Maker’s Wife. After he told me about this, I jumped online to find it as well. Sure enough, he was right (and ladies, we all know that's such a rare occurrence).

The author's name is Lois Kleinsasser but she writes under different names. For The Basket Maker's Wife, she wrote under the pen name Cait London. (Not sure why she writes under so many different names but that's beside the point). If I may go on a tangent, is it written 'besides the point' or 'beside the point'?

Back to the point. To give you an idea of where I'm going with today's post, let me share with you some of her other book titles: A Stranger’s Touch, With Her Last Breath, For Her Eyes Only, Rugged Glory, The Seduction of Fiona Tallchief, Wild Dawn and Night Fire.

Now, let me set the record straight before we go any further. I am sure all of these titles are well-written and I am not knocking the author in any way. But there is nothing wild, passionate, seductive or romantic about being a basketmaker’s wife! Well, one could probably find a touch of romance somewhere, but I highly doubt, by the names of her other book titles, that it's at the level needed to be on a Harlequin's list (which many of her books are on). You know, that romantic lust type stuff.

Instead, since I am the reality basketmaker's wife, in the flesh, I will share with you my first-hand knowledge. My life involves losing power because of the planer running while the sander's still on (there goes the show I was watching), stopping at smelly rest areas and eating junk food while on the road, hunting down receipts for the taxes because my craftsman husband likes to empty his pockets in no specific area, and, my favorite, having the house covered in sawdust 24/7. Dust is not in any way romantic!

I contacted the author to get a copy of The Basket Maker’s Wife to see what it was all about but she said it is currently unavailable since she is doing a rewrite. Hmmmm... I wonder if other basketmakers set her straight? This was back in October. Since then we have periodically checked her site and a few weeks ago, we saw the title under another pen name of hers, but when I looked for it today, it was no longer on her site.

So I'll continue to look for it and will let all you basket lovers out there know when this steamy novel is available again. In the meantime, I'm going downstairs to give my dust-covered husband a kiss. (Awwwwww).

The image above is the cover of Cait London's book.
You can find her at her blog here. 

Social Icons Labeled.

Okay. As promised, I'm uploading the social icons I posted a few days ago with labels. Thanks for the emails and messages letting me know your "social age." While I was looking for the ones I did not recognize, I found a bunch more I was unaware of. I'll keep gathering them and post new ones at a later date. (Please let me know if I mislabeled any!!)

Notes: LinkedIn threw me off since the button was green and their icons are usually always blue. Digg has a few different ones, so yes, there are two for Digg.

How Many Social Icons Can You Identify?

One of the hats I wear is a freelance designer. I'm currently creating packaging labels for a line of protein drinks. On just about everything these days, social icons are requested elements. So I'm always updating my library with social icon artwork from the stock image houses. Here is a new grouping I received today and will be using a few of these for the packaging I am presently working on.

However, I have to bravely admit, that I do not recognize a bunch of these! I will not tell you precisely how many since this admission could not only embarrass me, but put my reputation in jeopardy. What if one of my clients sees this? I'm supposed to be up on current trends.

I bet I could safely say that the more icons you recognize, the younger you are. On the other side, if more of these icons give you a puzzled and confused look, the older you are. That is why I will be looking up the ones I do not recognize asap so I can instantly take some years off. What is your social age? If you're feeling too ancient, I will post all the icons' identifications over the weekend. So you too can be socially-young-at-heart.

Eric's Grandmother, Stephen Zeh and the Blizzard of '93.

This is a short tale about Eric's grandmother, a cruise and a basket. When Eric's grandmother, Dorothy Taylor, passed away, she left him a basket that he treasures. Dorothy, who was not a basket maker, accompanied Eric's father and his partner Martha, who were teaching basketry, on a basketmaking cruise in the winter of 1993. Also along for the ride was basketmaker Stephen Zeh and his wife. At that time, it was early in Stephen Zeh's career and Dorothy was happy to purchase one of Zeh's baskets on this cruise. I might add that this cruise was almost a disaster since it occurred during the Blizzard of '93. Many people were having a hard time arriving at the port before the ship left, including all of the people I mentioned above. Luckily, they all made it.

But that is not what makes this basket interesting and special to Eric. Nor is it because she purchased it on this cruise from Zeh. Instead, it has a story etched in it, like so many baskets do. And this one involves a man.

Dorothy's husband died in the late 70's. She never remarried and was never seen with another man until this very cruise. After almost twenty years, she found herself a gentleman-friend and invited him to go on this trip with her. A brave woman. Now we'll get to the basket. On the bottom, Stephen Zeh's signature and #20 are burned in. Also on the bottom, Zeh wrote "Made for (gentleman's name) and Dorothy Taylor." Why do I not have the man's name you ask?

Well, as it turned out, Dorothy's gentleman-friend ended up being a total loser! Which I found a little depressing. I was single and dating for quite awhile before I met Eric and I sure had my share of numerous losers! I was becoming immune since I didn't recognize they were losers even when they were sitting right in front of me! Not to mention after dating them for a few months as well. (I'm eternally grateful to my friend Karen who came to my rescue for many of these blind-moments and helped me clear the fog.) I now question, disappointingly and with disbelief, you can still attract losers in your 70's? And Dorothy was a smart, wise woman! I better ensure that Eric outlives me.

Okay, enough about me and my old 'loser-magnet habit' and back to Dorothy. She had a problem because she really liked this basket but did not want to be reminded of this guy. Especially a loser of a guy. So she did what any of us foolish girls would do. She simply scratched out the man's name on the bottom with a burning pen! So we could not read it. As the story goes, Eric learned (and what he remembers) is that this old-loser-friend disrespected her the whole cruise and started to show his mean-spirited side. Being the self-respecting woman that Dorothy was, there was no way she would put up with that! So upon returning home, she ended their friendship. And Eric gets a kick out of telling this story when anyone asks, "Why does that basket say the Blizzard of '93"?

The Giant Woman Outside Our Window.

We refer to our dog as crazy or neurotic. Many people respond with "No, not him. He's so cute!" Yes, he is cute. But, he is also neurotic. I will prove my point in these pictures. My neighbor next door must have had a plumbing or heating problem in her house. Actually, two trucks showed up and were parked in front of our home. On these trucks, were a photo of a very large woman. Chance growled and barked for two hours at this truck. Nobody was walking by or going in and out of the vehicles during this time. Conclusion? He was protecting us from the giant woman outside our window. Hence... a neurotic dog. I wonder if it ever occurred to him that this giant woman never moved? Not even a blink of the eye.

Super Healthy (and Yummy) Cereal Mix.

I accompany Eric on the road for most of his teaching workshops. Lucky for him that I love road trips! And, I am a freelance art director so I am able to work in the back seat of the odyssey (a.k.a. the basket buggy). We call it my 'mobile office' and my clients never know that I'm not sitting at my desk (while I’m talking to them and working on their projects in the back seat of an automobile). I enjoy these trips because I get to meet so many people from different parts of the country. On a trip to New Jersey, our host, Connie, invited us to stay at her home. Every morning, she would put out several boxes of cereal on the table with fresh fruit. She showed us her and her husband's favorite mix of cereals and informed us on why her doctor recommended the mix for them (I'll save you the details). For the record, Eric has been mixing different brands of cereal for some time now in the hopes of getting me off my beloved Lucky Charms. You see, I am a cereal nut. Not just a cereal nut but a crazed, sugary cereal nut. Eric can tell you that I had to have my bowl of Lucky Charms in the morning and many times at night as a before-bed-snack. I knew all this sugar was bad, but I was addicted. I occasionally would switch it up with another sugary cereal, but it was still the same bad sugary habit. He eventually got me to switch it up occasionally, and eat Cheerios - BLEHH... (are we still talking about an Adult here???). But it did not satisfy me. Until, we met Connie and her super healthy cereal mix that is yummy! I was hesitant at first when I initially sat down at Connie's table (especially since a gastrointestinal specialist suggested these... I thought "great... we're about to eat cardboard"), but now, I eat this stuff every day. And I always add blackberries. I looooove blackberries. So I told my over-achiever husband to take a picture of all the cereals involved for this post. I say 'over achiever' because, as a lazy, procrastinating artist like moi, I requested a photo that is not professionally styled! (I mean... I don't want to look bad when you start comparing my photo skills against his!) He came back a little later and handed me the camera. He said, "I took two photos: one with the flash on, one without." I downloaded the only two images. (I usually have to take at least 15 pics to get one good one!) I asked for a casual grouping of boxes with a bowl. However, that is not the photo I got! He made it too perfect! At least he let some of the boxes stay open. But I should be grateful. If I took the shot, there would probably be several dirty dishes in the background and lots of crumbs in the forefront. So it’s good that we’re not embarrassing ourselves with a closeup of our dirty kitchen counters!

Our Heathy Mix:
1 box Uncle Sam Original with Whole Wheat Berry Flakes and Flaxseed
1 box Kashi Go Lean Crunch
1 box Kelloggs All-Bran Original
Then we add Almond Breeze instead of milk and fresh Fruit (I'm partial to blackberries but any fruit will do!)

The Uncle Sam's can be hard to find since not all grocery chains carry it. We did find it at one of our stores but it was almost $5 for the box, and the boxes, unfortunately are on the small side (they are tiny)!  But we found it on Amazon in bulk (6 boxes) which came out much cheaper (about $3.29/box) than buying it at the local store and it ships right to your door. And if you save up items in your Amazon cart to a total of $25, items can qualify for FREE super saving shipping! I love when that happens. I supplied a link below to the one we purchase (or click here).



If you do find Uncle Sam's at your local grocery store, here is a link to receive a coupon!  CLICK HERE for Uncle Sam's Cereal Coupon  Fill in your email address and they will send you a printable coupon for $1.00 Off!

Antique Archaeology and Jack White.

Eric has great students. One of them is Christy C. N. who always gives us good laughs and she heard that one of Eric’s favorite shows is American Pickers. So she gave Eric an Antique Archaeology t-shirt as a gift and he wears it ALL the time. (For those unfamiliar with American Pickers, Mike is one of the ‘stars’ and he owns the store Antique Archaeology.) He now packs this brown shirt for every workshop we go on. So many of my photos have him wearing that shirt so much so, that it looks like he wears the same clothes every day. So the History Channel has been advertising this week's episode for awhile and Eric's been nagging me to post this event on my blog.  I've got to give him what he wants some times, so this one I will do. Why is this particular episode so special and has Eric so excited? Because one of his favorite musicians, Jack White, will be on the show! Direct quote from Eric: "My favorite two pickers meet my favorite guitar picker. It doesn’t get any better than this, not since Abbott and Costello meet the Invisible man.” Well, 'alrighty' then. Here you go Eric. (hit 'play' on video below)

 
(For email subscribers, if you do not see the video, hit the title which brings you to the blog.)

Green Bay Fan Gets The Last Word (Merry EX-mas)

I'm watching Sunday Night Football and the camera zoomed in on this fan. She definitely got the last word! And she looks pretty happy as well!

I love everything about the holidays except these...

Peanut M&M's. They are evil! Why I buy them, I do not know. Well, I do know because RiteAid was doing a special and I bought two of the big-gluttonous-calorie-busting-bags for 4 bucks. How could I resist? And they're red and green — so festive. But see this bowl? It was overflowing-full. When I took this pic, I said I was done. But there was 13 left. I cannot leave 13 in the bowl, that is bad luck! So I ate three and left it at 10 (okay, that was a lie. I left 5.)

Fantasy Football Madness.

We had some of the league gang over to watch football last night — mainly the Tebow and Brady face-off. Eric's other passion is being the Commissioner of our Fantasy Football League and we just entered the Playoffs. Last year, I made it to the final four and I believe I finished 3rd. This year, I did not do so well. I will probably be in 8th place. However, this year, I won the 'Best Team Logo' Award. Yah!

My team name is The Cookie Crumblers (hence the crumbling cookie on the helmet). I think the pink trim gives it that extra special touch.

It's Shuffleboard Time!

I had a very busy two days (like everyone else this time of year). One of my clients produces a magazine 4 times a year and I'm in the middle of putting together the Winter edition. I do all the layout, design and photo retouching along with putting the whole thing together. I work with a writer from New York who is the master coordinator. So that makes it a lot easier. Also today, I had to bring Chance to the vet, but most importantly, I had a special sign project that needed to be designed (with lots of 'cheeeeze') and sent to the printer before midnight. I just uploaded it and the banner will arrive a few days before the big event. What big event is this you ask? Well, it's the highlight of the year for my family. The Annual Lime Grove Invitational Shuffleboard Tournament! It is held in Florida and we can probably call it an International event since friends of my parents who have played every year travel from England right before the holidays to attend. Every year we will add something 'printed' to the event. Last year, every participant received a t-shirt with our event logo. This year, we decided to print up a 6-foot banner (below). Pictured are the defending champions... two years in row! They're holding the coveted Lord Talbot Cup.

*Sorry to all you die-hard shuffleboard fans out there. This league is full!

A Christmasmoviephiliac's Top 10 (plus some).

As promised, here's the movies I do not miss during the month-long holiday-movie-marathon:

A Christmas Carol. There are multiple remakes and I have to watch ALL of them before Christmas, but my favorite take is the 1951 version with Alastair Sim as Scrooge.

It’s A Wonderful Life. My ALL time most favorite, favorite, favorite holiday movie! I’ve liked it since I was a kid and can recite most scenes (annoying to anyone who happens to watch the movie with me).

Fallen Angel with Gary Sinese. A sweet story set in Maine. 

ELF. I must admit, when I first saw this movie in the theater, I was not impressed. Maybe because all the funny parts were revealed during promotional ads. But a couple years later, I watched it on video and it was a lot funnier the 2nd time. And even more funnier the 3rd, 4th, 5th.... I now love this movie. 

A Diva’s Christmas Carol with Vanessa Williams. I know, it’s a made-for-tv movie but I think it is so funny! Is there really a diva that is that diva-ish?? 

Holiday Inn (with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire). A nice black & white classic. Cannot say more. 

Working Girl. Okay, I know, it has nothing to do with Christmas! But this movie always shows up in the guide this time of year so I’ll end up watching it. Who doesn’t love a struggling gal who gets her own office with a big window and a boxed lunch made by Harrison Ford! 

The Santa Clause. It's cute. It's funny. And I’m always amused at the scene when he shows up to work in sweatshirt and sweatpants. That’s like my daily work attire! 

How The Grinch Stole Christmas. And only the 1966 version!

Miracle on 34th Street. I like both renditions. 

White Christmas. Another classic that I never miss. Except, I empty the dishwasher, let out the dog or do some other task when they get to the They’re doing Choreography singing scene with Danny dressed as an artist saying "the theatuh, the theatuh, what’s happened to the theatuh?” I cannot stand that scene.

Holiday Switch. I like the storyline here. She is a wife and mom and they are broke and she breaks her favorite ornament and they cannot afford a tree. And while doing laundry, she wishes her life was different. She bumps her head and then climbs into her clothes dryer and ‘poof’ she climbs out into a glamorous life married to her old boyfriend. They are rich and he owns a gallery. But she discovers that she is unhappy and all she wants is to go back to her old life. 

The Christmas List. Another made-for-tv movie but I really like this one. It’s with Mimi Rogers (the first ex-wife of Tom Cruise) and she is almost middle-aged, dating a loser and she makes a Christmas List and she starts getting what she wished for. 

The National Dog Show. I know, this is not a Christmas movie! But come on. Who does not love dogs? (Cat owners, no need to respond). It is hosted by John O’Hurley (remember Elaine’s boss from Seinfeld?). He is funny. And, it’s held on Thanksgiving day! Look at it as the ‘kick-off’ to the holiday season. I mean, the holiday movie season!

I have probably about 10 more I would like to add to the list but I wouldn’t want to ruin Eric’s reputation. No need for people to know how sappy (or as Eric would say... pathetic!) I can be.

Now if you thought I forgot to add ‘A Christmas Story’ to this list, you are mistaken. I did not add it because I just don’t like it! Maybe because it reminds me of hanging out in my parents basement when I was a kid and the smell of sweaty, wet winter clothing lying on the cement floor in one big stinky pile, knowing that my cousin’s scarf is in there and his nose was running for several hours while we were outside. That’s what this movie reminds me of.

True Confession... I am a Christmasmoviephiliac.

I love the week of Thanksgiving because it's the start of Holiday Movies! Much to the dread of Eric since he would probably tell you, irritatingly, I have them on 24/7. Since I work from home, and I like to have noise in the background, the TV is often a comforting office mate. Especially if I'm working on a boring project like designing a financial newsletter (oops, I better check my list of daily blog-email-subscribers in case that client subscribed). But before Thanksgiving, I remind Eric that it's almost time for the Christmas Movie Season!! Yah! But I do not know why he's complaining. He actually gets a lot of work done the month of December because he's in his workshop a lot longer (he is not a big fan like me).

So I'm compiling a small list of most of my favorites that I will post later. Soon, there will be a few networks that will be running Christmas movies over and over again. A Christmasmoviephile's dream! My list will include theater movies and the sappy made-for-tv movies. I'll try and keep it under 15.

** This is the definition of a Christmasmoviephiliac from Eric in his own words: "If you start watching Christmas movies before Thanksgiving, you have a problem. If you watch a Christmas movie every day, then you have a problem. If you have seen the movie at least 5 times and you still watch it, you have a problem. If you have watched it every year for more than 10 years, then you have a problem." His words, not mine.

Aluminum foil - shiny side down?

We travel around the country for my husband's workshops. Sometimes we stay at people's homes and get into lengthy conversations. Many times, about subjects that are not of any importance. One involved aluminum foil. Which side touches food when baking... the shiny side or the dull side? According to our host's friend, who is a chemist, the dull side has a chemical on it so the shiny side should always be the side that comes in contact with food when baking. Is this one of those "never believe everything you hear" moments? On another note, I've been in advertising for many years and enjoy reading vintage ads. This one is great. "Woman's bright new problem solver!" You gotta love it.