EASIEST FIRE EVER

When we took a 4-wheel drive ride down to the river bottom, we enjoyed the shade of the colorful cool autumn leaves and the sight and sound of running water.

Carolyn was especially willing to be the star of a fashion-magazine-worthy photo shoot.

She knows all the best poses.

When we turned to go, imagine my surprise at seeing the most energy efficient fire I've ever come across.

 Is it the red color that keeps you warm? Or the mental suggestion planted by the hot yellow word, "fire?" Does your food just taste warm because you think it is? Or do you pack a sandwich?

Do you like campfires?

Or are you a forced-air furnace type of person?

Sign Fails

Proofreaders needed!

If a shopper couldn't read, he or she would get the wrong impression of the 3-pack refill wands mentioned in this sign. 

They'd mistakenly think the wands were only worth 3 1/2 stars (count 'em!)

But perhaps the "4.4 star rating" is wrong.

Whatever the truth, this information simply doesn't match. It messes with my head.

When presented with two choices at a waffle shop, I knew instantly which one I'd choose. 

I'd eat savory over sweat any day.

When I pointed the spelling error out to the manager, she was surprised that it didn't say, "sweet."

 

Does correct spelling matter to you?

Weird Shirt

 When someone told me they could never find anything to wear at a thrift store, I thought it was an odd statement.  All you have to do is spend enough time and be willing to make repeat visits to stock your wardrobe.

But then I found this weird shirt. If this is what she saw, then I can imagine why she'd hurry out of the store that didn't carry her style.

It's hard to even take a picture of it to show its real strangeness. It's a short sleeved t-shirt with two long sleeves sticking out of the front at about waist level.

What's that all about? Is it some kind of t-shirt baby carrier where you put the baby's legs in the long sleeves and carry the child against your tummy?

Or are you supposed to wrap the long sleeve parts around your waist and tie them in the back? Or in the front?

Or was it made for someone who has four arms?

What do you think it's for?

Ran Out Of Paint

When I first saw this shirt at the thrift store, I was attracted by the bright red flowers and intense green leaves. I actually considered adding it to my large collection of thrift store t-shirts, even though I don't need any more. Yet this one could possibly be worth shoving some of the others over to make more closet space.

And then I turned it around...

What the HEY? Who didn't finish their job?

That back side was the deciding factor. This shirt was not going home with me. I didn't want to give anyone following me a headache from wondering why there was a colorful butterfly and only outlines of flowers and leaves.

I know, I know, this is one of those artsy intentional designs, like flood pants (meaning ones that are a few inches above the ankle but awkwardly longer than capris...I got teased so much for being tall in public school that wearing pants hovering above my ankles only takes me back to those unpleasant "King Kong Shirley" days. I won't wear them! They're a fashion faux pas in a plot to undermine the confidence of unusually tall people who thought they left their days of teasing behind! But I digress.)

Who thought up the unfinished painted shirt design, anyway? 

Lazy people?

Maybe not. Maybe it's just me and my uneducated design mind. 

Let's find out.

Do you like this shirt?

(Do you like flood pants?)

Car Color Game

When I was a child, we sometimes traveled a from New Jersey across the country to visit my grandparents in Utah and uncles and aunts in California, Oregon, and Idaho.

In order to pass the time while rolling down the highway for several days in a row in the 1960's, we played games such as "The Alphabet Game," (click to see the rules. It's the first one on the list, followed by several others, most of which we never played) The License Plate Game, (4th on the list linked above) and the Car Color Game (not listed on the link.)

The Car Color Game involves choosing a color and counting how many cars you see in that color. The first one to whatever pre-determined number is set (1, 5, 20, 50, whatever you can agree on) is the winner!

I tended to choose my favorite colors: bright yellow, orange, green, or red, if one of my other many siblings didn't yell them out first. Funny thing about it, though, is that I don't ever remember winning.

As I recall, my older brother usually chose white, which, while at times a useful color (or absence of color, depending on who you talk to), is also one of the most boring colors on the planet, in my opinion.

But my recollection also serves to remind me that this brother of mine almost always won the game.

I wonder why?

Style

My 9-year-old granddaughter went shopping with me at the thrift store, and guess what? She found some shoes that fit! When she asked if I would please get them for her, I took this picture and sent it to her dad (my son) to see if it was ok for her to tip-toe home in these orange foot confections.

While waiting for his reply, my granddaughter changed her mind about the shoes, deciding that they looked oh-so-cute, but ended up not feeling oh-so-good after all.

Style is so subjective. What one person might think is a dream come true could be seen by someone else as a nightmare.

When I ask Carolyn how she'd like her hair done, she usually says I can pick. "I trust you," she says.

Well, I have rather quirky tastes, but since Carolyn can't see her hair, she doesn't complain.

Actually, I often take pictures of her hairstyles because she can't really maneuver the hinged mirrors in her bathroom that allow her to see the back of her hair, and she almost always lights up with a smile and says, "I love it!"

This would fit in a Dr. Seuss book.

And this fancy Arabian Nights Princess one is made with a necklace and hair clips.  

Would you call your style Traditional? Conservative? Chic? Artsy? Casual? Tomboy? Or just put-some-clothes-on-that-fit and go outside?

Sticky Cat

When Carolyn changed her bedding, she thought that pulling the blanket off her bed would make the cat hop off.

But something made the cat stick to the blanket even as it slid off the bed.

lt could have been her claws stuck in the blanket.

It could have been static electricity holding her in place.

It could be a huge wad of chewed gum.

Or it could be that this cat loves Carolyn so much she doesn't believe that anything Carolyn does will hurt her.

How often do you change your bed linens?