Hilarious Ad

You know how last week I ranted and bitched about a few ads that I hate?

Here's one I think is just too damn funny!

Bahahaha!!

Sort of a rant. Or maybe a complaint. You be the judge.

So I go to Hobby Lobby as one does when one is looking to purchase some fabric.  I have a love/hate relationship with HL.  They carry so many things that I love.  They also carry a TON of cheap made in China crap that we need to quit importing.  I would love to be able to boycott HL, but I am not there yet.  I do put down anything cute I have picked up when I see the ubiquitous Made in China sticker on bottom though.

Anyhoo, I am the fabric department looking for, well, fabric!  I needed some black fabric to use as a table covering for an event we are attending as a sponsoring group.  So we are using black as our table background so that all our pretty bright colored brochures and things "pop" as all the designers say.

I roamed around and scoped out all the different solid black fabrics and picked out the one I wanted and took it to the big table where they cut it for you.  The HL fabric-cutting lady says "How much you need?"

To which I replied "Well, the tables are six feet and I want hang down on each side of 12 to 18 inches.  Let's say, 18 inches on each side.  So that's another 36 inches, plus the six feet.  Cut me a piece of 9 feet, please."

You are never going to believe what she said.

Are you ready?

Here's what she said.

"I can only do yards. How much is that in yards?"

Really?

W T F ???

She works in fabric.  She works in fabric cutting said fabric.  And she DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO CONVERT FEET TO YARDS!!!

And it was an easy one, too!  It wasn't like I said give me 8 5/8 feet and then she would have to break out the calculator that was right next to her.

Holy crap.  I can't be an old fart and curmudgeon and blame it on the young whippersnappers and their new-fangled math, because this lady was older than me.  She didn't know.  And worse, she didn't really seem to give two shits.

Rant Coming! Watch out

It has definitely been a while since I have ranted.  But there are a few things that have been irritating me. So why wouldn't I want to share them with you???


First up!  This has got to be the most obnoxious, insufferable frigging ad going.

Take a watch and tell me if this would induce you to want what they are selling:

Really???  "That's so 12 seconds ago"  Really?  Is this where we are as a people?  12 seconds ahead of our friends who we now think are so lame and un-cool.  Bet those friends never call you again on your SmartAss Phone.

What a bunch of dickheads.

Next up, ANOTHER douche-y ad trying to make you feel lame if you don't have the biggest, bestest and latest.

That commercial right there will keep me from EVER buying a fucking iPhone.  What is this?  Shame people into feeling so bad about their lives they just can't live without your product?

My phone has a droid market just like that app store, and I can scroll through it just as quickly and get the exact same apps FOR FREE and have them on my phone just as quickly.  Where is the advantage?

Sorry, but if your marketing tool is to make people feel less-than, you have lost me (and hopefully all others with any sense of self esteem) right there.  There is a line you cross when talking about how awesome your newest Thneed is and how remarkably stupid your Thneed-less target audience is, and AT&T and Apple have done this for me.

And this is how I feel about that.

And finally!!!  Here's what they really mean.   I couldn't say it any better than these guys:

Rachel Pie

Today is my daughter, the lovely and fabulous Rachel Pie's birthday.  Not just any birthday, but her 25th.  That is a big deal.  Makes you seem like a grown up person to be 25, doesn't it?

Here is a little pictorial of some Rachel Pie for your viewing pleasure!

First up we have pumpkins!!!  Yes, indeedy.  My kids were pumpkins for Halloween several years running and they had the costume that doubled as pajamas.  Rachel is 2 years old here and quite a happy plump little punkin!

This next one is a year or so later and I don't even know what to tell you about that gorgeous, messy little face.

This one is around 2005 to 2006 when Rachel had just started at Naropa University.  She was home, it's a backyard party, so I am guessing it is July 2006 for Jonathon's birthday.  Have you ever seen anything prettier than that smile?

This next one has a date stamp on it so that's helpful.  We are at a cousin's wedding and all dressed up. It was a lovely time.  I think Rachel looked exceptionally nice with her hair cut like that and in her apple green dress.  

Here, Rachel Pie is modeling the Virgin of Guadalupe jacket I made for her.  First the backside, then the front.

Here is a cute picture of Rachel with her Mimi (my Mama).  We are at a graduation party for my nephew.  I think this is the year that Rachel had spent a semester down in Mexico teaching permaculture and living on an organic herb farm.  That is why she is looking so tan and healthy!

Look!  Another family wedding and Rachel is wearing the green dress again!  She looks like a million bucks in that dress.  It has the little black band at the top and a full skirt.  She usually wears it with those little slip-on heels like Lucille Ball wore in the 1950s, and a black satin wrap.  That dress fits her like it was made just for her.  Her brother Sparky is on the left and cousin Danny is on the right.  They all had such a great time at this wedding.  All the cousins, including the bride and groom, went out dancing afterwards.

This next group of pictures are from Dec. 2009 when Rachel graduated from Naropa.  We were taking lots of fun pictures and everyone was laughing that whenever Jonathon a.k.a. Sparky smiles he gets squinty and you can't see his eyes.  Notice in the second picture, Rachel is trying to help him out with that!  She's such a good sister!

And here's Rachel filing in to get her diploma!  Yay Rachel!  The purple sash is a thing Naropa does rather than traditional cap and gown.  They also filed in behind bagpipers!  Awesome.

I am always proud of Rachel, but this was a huge moment for all of us.

And here's a picture of Rachel Pie last year when we were on the cruise.  She could not be any lovelier.

This is just a small sampling of some Rachel Pie pictures.  She has been a blessing to me and teaches me things every day since she was born.  My life was never as full and complete before Rachel.  I stand in awe of that child.  She just amazes me.  I can't think of a single person who is as sweet, tender, giving, loving and strong as she is.  I have never felt right taking any credit for her.  I am just an observer who gets a front row seat watching all the ways she enriches the lives of all she touches.

I love you, my beautiful precious angel face.  It has been my privilege to watch over you for this first 25 years, and I hope to be here for the next 25 and as far beyond that as I can.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

So, the other day we were out . . . .

and we pulled off the side of the road to talk to this homeless couple that I see regularly.  They are on my route of regulars and I always have snacks, blankets, wet naps, $, fruit, or whatever for passing out to those in need. And I have chatted with them for years now.

Seriously, years.

Several years back it was obvious that she was pregnant and then I only saw him alone for a long time and I was afraid to ask what happened in case it was really bad and they had lost the baby or something.  So, anyhoo, we were talking and they brought up that their daughter is living with his sister and they don't get to see her very often.  And since they opened up that conversation I had to go there.  You know what I mean?

I said "well, at least she is with family and you get to spend time with her.  And that is way better than being in the foster system, isn't it?"  They allowed how they do get to see her some but not very often.  Then I asked, "what is your daughter's name?"

And they looked at each other and said "Well, we had named her Audacity, but his sister is calling her Diana."  Then he looks at me and says "can't imagine where she got THAT NAME."

This is where we all got the WTF???  look on our faces.  Yeah, can't possibly imagine where she came up with Diana, when they had the perfectly fine name of Audacity already.

It's a head scratcher, that's what I am saying.

The Reading of the Obits

Sadly, the obit section of the paper has been bigger.  25% bigger to be exact.  Typically, we have 3 pages to wade through but lately?

FOUR FULL PAGES!

That, my friends, is a lot of dead people.  And not just one week, but consistently since right before Christmas.  So it's truly a lot more than the usual numbers.

Anyhoo, I was reading along as I tend to do and came across this one particular one that was so interesting.  And I mean really interesting.  Interesting enough to consider making a movie or writing a fabulous book out of this family history.  So instead of listing all kinds of sundry things about the obit writing and such I decided to just share this one in it's entirety.

"Gertruda Medynski of San Antonio passed away peacefully on January 4, 2012 at the age of 98. She was born in Wejherowo, Poland December 3, 1913 to Jan and Anastazja Wolter. In 1941 she married Grzegorz Wojewski who became the commander in chief of the Secret Military Organization "Gryf Pomorski," a Polish anti-Nazi resistance group. Gertruda herself was a secret operative known by the pseudonym "Rose" as she gathered information about imminent Nazi arrests and provided false documents to assist Poles escape persecution. Wanted by the Nazi's, she gave birth to her second daughter, Danuta while hiding in a basement. After Grzegorz was secretly executed by the Russians following the war, Gertruda took over running her husband's factory producing construction materials. She moved to the United States in 1972. She visited Poland in 2001 for the dedication of a memorial to her husband and in 2002 for the dedication of a school named after him. She is survived by her oldest daughter Barbara Rupinska, her granddaughters Monika Dalrymple, Arleta and Edita Rupinska, and great granddaughter Alexandra Dalrymple."


See?  Isn't that amazing?  I hope the rest of her life was as fulfilling as her early years were.  What a legacy to pass on to those granddaughters!  They have some mighty big shoes to fill, don't they?

January 15, 1938

January 15, 1938 is my Papa's birthday.  I have written about him several times and if you want to, you can go here to read the other times and see the photos.

Today would have been his 74th birthday, and you know, 74 isn't really all that old.  And that makes it all the harder to deal with the fact that he died just weeks after his 57th birthday.  57.

The closer I get to 57 the more I realize how young it really is.  You know how that goes.

So while everyone else is out celebrating the birth of Martin Luther King and having big grand marches in his honor (believe it or don't, the largest MLK march takes place here. Isn't that amazing?)  and enjoying having a day off tomorrow, I have a higher priority in remembering my Papa and what all I learned from him.  My kids were only 8 and 9 when he died and they are the oldest of his grandchildren, so it is really important to me that I keep telling them things about him so that they know.  My sisters' kids are a bit younger and I don't think have too many real memories of time with him.

It's sad that it only takes 2 generations before the stories are all that is left of a life well-lived and well-loved.

I take this as a constant reminder to spend quality one-on-one, look-you-in-the-eyes time with people. I don't ever want to leave things left unspoken. I would like for people who know me to know that what they get with me is the real me, no holding back, no polite fakeness and hopefully no regrets.

Updated Ancestry Report

Way back last May I told you about what my findings on Ancestry.com, you can go here if you want to read that post.

Here I am going to give you an update on what else I have found!

1. I now have 1465 people on the extended branches of my tree.  That's a lot of branches, twigs and nuts!

2. Still, pretty much nothing but German, Scot, English or Irish farmers, blacksmiths or coopers.

3. 7 generations back in my tree is my 5th great grandmother who is first cousin to Francis Scott Key.  He is still the only person on my tree who seems to have been a creative artistic type.  Everyone else was busy trying to keep food on the table and had no time for such foolish extravagances.

4. There are going to be lots and lots of new records available this year as the 1940 federal census will become available.  So I guess I am going to pay to stay in at least one more year!

5. Sadly and regrettably, I have found a few people who had one or two slaves.  They must have been really poor farmers to only have one.  But it does something to you when you read about this in your own family.  I don't really know what to even say about it.  It's a heartbreaking reality.

6. I still think the ancestry work dovetails nicely with my obituary reading.  Which I have to get back to!  I haven't posted about obits in quite a while.

Do you do ancestry work?  Are you interested in your family tree?  Or are you more the looking forward rather than backward kind of person?

Happy New Year

I made a conscious decision to NOT do a retrospective on this blog.  I don't have 5 gazillion posts to go through, and it's really just not something I would do.  I have tried and tried to make a list of goals in Jan. and follow up with them monthly and then at the end of the year, grade myself on how much I accomplished.

Let's face it, I am not good at this.  This is why I am not enrolled in an online school.  Self-starter?  Not so much.

So if you were looking for that kind of a post today, I will have to direct you to my friend sluggy's blog where she did a fabulous job of recapping and grading herself.

However!  I am here with some lovely and entertaining photos for you!  Yay!!

Without further ado, here come the pics.

I decided to take a picture of the new vintage 1960's aluminum tree with each of the colors of the color wheel shining on it.   In my head, you would be able to see how beautifully each of the colors looked and how distinctive.  We each selected a color we liked the best.  I thought I would like the blue, because blue and silver is such a perfect combo, but no!  I actually liked the amber/gold on the silver best. It was a really nice glow.  Take a look at these and see if you see any difference.  I am sorry to tell you that for me the color variations didn't show up at all.

And no, I did NOT just put the same damn picture up there 8 times.   Anyhoo, isn't it a beautiful silver aluminum tree?  And it was easy peasy to put together.  It came inside a new box that is housing the original 1960 box and all of the original little waxed paper sleeves for EACH of the 152 branches are there.  So, now we have to take it apart very carefully and put each of those 152 branches back into their own original little waxed paper sleeves.  (I can't tell you how much this appeals to my weird OCD self!)

Next year, this will be my main tree.  Yay!!!

And next to the tree, we have my buffet in the dining room that this time of year houses my gorgeous pewter angel and Christmas tree collection.  I love them.  Underneath them is this beautiful red and gold embroidered cut out table scarf thing my mama brought me from either Spain or Portugal.  I need to ask and find out for sure.  It is exactly the measurements for that buffet.  Just like it was made for it.

Sadly, I started taking photos of my Christmas stuff in the midst of moving things around and getting them ready to box up.  But next is the huge crystal bowl full of shiny iridescent ornaments that sits in the middle of the dining room table.  I am thinking that a bunch of those ornaments would be just perfect on the new vintage aluminum tree.  What do you think?

Next is a picture of my current main tree in the living room.  The reason I took this picture was to show the variation in the clear lights.  This is one of those damn pre-lit trees from 2 years ago.  The 2 year old original lights on it don't work except for a bunch on the very top of the tree.  So I strung a bunch more new lights on it and you can NOT believe the difference in color!  You know, old incandescent light bulbs have warm white and cool white and boy can you ever tell the difference if you happen to mix them?  Same thing here.  They all say "Clear White", but that is not the case.  Definitely got the warm vs. cool thing going on.  Grrrr.  Still hating the way quality has nose-dived on Christmas lights.

Next up is one of my largest nativities.  I love this one because of the bright vivid colors, the touches of metallic paint where it should be shiny, and especially how the angel just hovers above the stable.  She is beautiful.

And what Christmas decor would be complete without a Leg Lamp??  "It's a Major Award!  It must be I-talian, it says FRA-GEEE-LAY!"

This is one of my prized nativities.  I bought this when we lived in Mexico City.  It is a corn husk doll nativity.  The most amazing detail on each of them.  You can tell at a glance who each doll is.  I bought a herd of extra angels to stand around the holy family.

Here's a close-up of the 3 kings.  Notice how in Mexico they always have one dark-skinned king, and each of the kings has different garb and carries different gifts.  Awesome!

Next, I took some pictures of some of my ornaments.  Not necessarily my favorites, but some fun ones.

First up is one of the commemorative ones from the Texas State Capitol.

In this one you can see one of my many Christopher Radko walruses.  On the left is one of the little toothpick God's Eyes that the kids and I made in 1991.  When we moved to Guadalajara in August of 1991, our shipment of belongings didn't arrive and we had no ornaments.  So we sat down and made little God's Eyes out of toothpicks and embroidery floss and larger ones of 4 - 6 inch skewers and yarn. It was a really pretty tree.  And every year since we put the God's Eyes on to remember the year we had no ornaments.

Oh, and on the right of the walrus is a pewter ornament of The Alamo.  I have a lot of pewter ornaments.

In 2002 we moved to Minneapolis, and I went in a Hallmark store and they were doing different Santas from many countries.  So I found the 2 Santas that represent my heritage.  First is the Irish one.  He has the most gorgeous Celtic knot design on his coat.  Just beautiful.

And then the German one is more rough-hewn, made to look handmade.  This reminds me of the German relatives who make absolutely everything by hand.  He is a very nice Santa.

Another painted glass walrus, not Christopher Radko, but very nice and plump.

In this shot you can see that I found the pickle ornament and down below the pickle who do you find?  My favorite cartoon character!  Foghorn Leghorn!!  He has a teeny little Henry Chickenhawk next to him.

Another pewter ornament.

This ornament is very special to me.  When I started being a doula I went to the San Antonio Birth Doulas Christmas party where we traditionally do an ornament exchange and this was the ornament I got.  It was made by a wonderful young doula named Erin who had gone to school at RISD.  She made it of silver and the 3 teeny Christmas balls on it are little gemstones.  It is very sweet and means a lot to me.

This last picture is one of my newest ornaments.  This came from my very best friend Beth (mom of the Georgia Peach).   There is an organization in town that works with mentally handicapped people and they have started making these crosses.  They are made of nails, 2 long ones going up and down and 2 shorter ones for the arms of the cross.  Then the whole thing is wrapped in beaded wire and hung on a pretty piece of ribbon.  I left the tag on mine that says it was made by "Lil Will".  Isn't that the most precious thing?

Thanks for sitting through this little pictorial of some of my Christmas stuff.  Thanks for coming here to my little blog and sharing in my life.  It means a lot to me.

My wish for the coming year for each of you is a little time to relax, enjoy yourselves and find the love and peace surrounding you each day.

Happy New Year!