Best Buy

This 5 dollar mini-tramp was the first and best purchase found at D.I. today (and in brand newish condition too). Upon its home arrival, every single person in the family tried it out. Even Mom.

This picture above is provided to give you an idea of its size and proportion compared to a-little-larger-than-average feet. Pretty exciting, I know. Now that I think of it, those a-little-larger-than-average-feet are wearing shoes that were once purchased basically brand new at D.I. They (Roos Shoes) have zipper pockets on the sides and flaunt the color hot pink. My sisters think they are sinfully ugly. I love them.

Now that I've mentioned those black ones, I might as well also mention that I found them about a week after buying an almost brand new red pair (same brand and style). Guess where I got the red ones? You are so correct! D.I. it was! See the below photo (notice they too are slathered with hot pink!).

Man, just the brief mention of these bargains makes me want to share all of my treasured buys with you. While I know you're probably dying to know more and more, I'm not going to appease you. It would take an individual blog dedicated solely for that purpose, to supply your thirst for more treasure viewings. Sorry. I do hate to disappoint but I have homework to get to, as usual (I guess it wouldn't be usual if I'd just get it done, right?).

I'll leave you tonight with you my newfound self-realization which is this: "D.I." should have been my given name at birth. Had that been the case, I'm sure I still would have gone by "Erica" like I do now; though, it must be said I do like the sound of "D.I. Erica Dyar". It has a ring to it and I do love music.

Note: I didn't mention my also beloved, ever-faithful Goodwill. I'm a big fan and will later address finds from her reserves. Don't you worry about that.

Friday Freebie

Meet Betsy McCall (1960). There are ten years worth of her HERE. Holy smokes. That's a lot of paper dolls. I hope you guys have some use for them because I know I sure don't. Someday I might. I found Betsy from the website "Teri's Paper Doll Scans" found HERE. Aside from Betsy, there are a ton more different paper dolls from last century. The variety of options is impressive; however, I didn't check them all out because, well, I don't really have use for them... now. Who knows. Maybe I'll get caught playing with them in the near future. Once a little girl, always a little girl.

P.S. Lauren, Mishawn (if you ever read this), and all you other Funny Girl lovers out there need to check out these beauties HERE. What are the odds of that?

Officially

Officially, it's been a week since viewing Funny Girl (click HERE). Officially, I still hate it. Lauren (sis) ordered the sequel movie and it came in the mail today. I hope she watches it while I'm gone at class tonight. If she doesn't, I'll have no self-control and end up watching it with her later on. I just can't take that much hardship in one month's time.

As for the official update on my emotional status? I'm back to normal. The only complaint, with my heart back in place, is that every so often I remember the movie and experience a brief tug at the heartstrings. Don't worry though. This ticker is going nowhere. Pledge of Allegiance here I come.

Over and out.

Trudging Through the Water

My favorite rainy day quote happened like this...

Yesterday at work I was walking by a pool of water toward the front office. In the pool was a first grade boy wading along, taking his time on his way to who knows where.

Me: You need to get out of the water.

Him: Why? It makes me feel comfortable.

Me: What?

Him: It makes me feel comfortable.

His use of attitude and tone of voice would normally make me want to give him a good spank on the bottom but he was clever/funny and I didn't feel like having a chat with him so I just kept walking on. I didn't even check to see if he lingered in his party pool. I'm glad he felt comfortable then because he probably didn't feel comfortable about 5 minutes later when he was sitting, soaking wet on a plastic chair in his classroom with no sympathy from his teacher. Poor wet, cold, chafed, little first grade boy (spoken with gentle sarcasm and my semi-evil laugh: Ha ha ha ha ha).

For One Smokin Dollar... Basically a Freebie!

This Where the Wild Things Are Moishe character crochet pattern is only $1! Better yet, the only crochet stitch you have to use is a single crochet, the easiest one ever! Even I can do it. Holy Smokes.

Purchase it on Etsy from GraceHKim right HERE.

WooHoo! Friday Freebie!

It's Friday Freebie Day! I know, I know. It's just a tad late to be posting calendars but we're still in the month of January so I feel o.k. about sharing it. Besides, I like it and it's free. This calendar comes from a clever website that I've been enjoying lately. The writers (husband and wife) are ever so clever and made the calendar with their own printmaking equipment. I would love, love, love to get into that hobby/art. Any way, with out further ado, I present to you from Something's Hiding In Here, your very own 2010 calendar.

Click this HERE link to obtain the full download. The below picture is just the first of twelve, obviously.

More Kid Stories

Last semester I worked in a 4th/5th accelerated combo class. Below are my favorite responses to the fourth graders' assignment to:

"Write a sentence describing a situation in which you showed determination."

Student 1- "To get home from school to watch an episode of I Carly.

Student 2- "If you stand up to a bully who keeps on messing with you, then you've shown great determination."

Student 3- "I had determination to get a hamster."

"Write a sentence describing your feelings about revolution."

Student 4- "I think revolutions are dumb unless the government is unfair."

---

This morning at the crosswalk there were hardly any kids because it was raining and they lucked out with their parents and got rides. I loved how all of the kids that did pass by were so excited about the rain. Now, it rarely rains in Mesa, AZ so today's weather was a big affair. One of the large water retention basins was so full of water that a city worker was down doing something about it. One of the boys passing by said:

"Did you see the basin? It's so full there's a cop there! The trees are covered to the top!"

His big sister (4th grade) corrected him and let me know that the trees were only 1/4 to 1/3 flooded (I still haven't walked down to check it out yet). The big sister didn't catch the cop statement though and her eyes sure did shine with excitement as the Mesa city worker's 4x4 flashed constant yellow lights.

I'd like to end with my favorite comment that came from an excited first grader:

"I didn't know it could rain in the morning!"

My response to him, and last quote/comment for this post:

"Ha hahaha ha ha ha."

Not So Funny, Girl.

Have you ever seen this movie?

Funny Girl? I surely wasn't laughing at the end. It was like the movie Roman Holiday, but 10 times worse. I guess it serves me right for spending a Tuesday evening in front of the boob tube. I was loving the whole movie till the last darn five minutes.

I'd like to give you some answers to questions you probably have:

1. Yes, Barbara Steisand was perfection.

2. Yes, I was in love with Nicky Arstein.

3. Yes, the movie was very long but I was enjoying every minute of it, every 150/155 minutes of it (to be exact).

4. Yes, the movie took the worst turn possible in the last five minutes.

5. Yes, the last song played during the last five minutes was unquestionably the best from the entire movie.

6. Yes, my heart plummeted to the bottom of my stomach the whole time Fanny (Streisand) sang it.

7. Yes, I hated the movie.

8. Yes, I'll probably love it in about a week or two when my heart climbs back up to where it's supposed to go. Until then, I'll say the "Pledge of Allegiance" to the flag at school with my right hand over an empty heart cavity.

9. Yes, Funny Girl is a lousy name for the movie.

10. Yes, you should watch the movie, even if you've already seen it, so I won't be heartbroken alone.

Now. Are there any more questions you want answered about the movie? I'll gladly answer them. Just let me know. Have you seen it? If not, watch it and we can wallow together sometime. If you have seen it, do you like it? What do you think about this movie?

Hangman

This semester I have to volunteer 45 hours in a middle school Mild Mental Disability, self-contained classroom. The students are so fun to be with. Today two of the boys (grades 7 and 8) were permitted to eat lunch in the classroom as a reward. They asked me to play Hangman with them and were overly excited when I agreed to play. I was in charge of thinking up the words and they guessed the letters.

John (grade 7), who was most excited, wasn't able to guess letters very strategically or see the word as a whole and would end up guessing periodically, being so excited when his classmate Paul (grade 8) was able to guess so many letters right. It was a very endearing situation just to watch John get so excited at every guessed letter and even more so at the end of every game. He begged for another game every time we finished one. I couldn't say no to John who acted like every game was his first experience at Disneyland. You wouldn't take a kid to the entrance of Disneyland, let him ride one ride, then take him home, would you?

As the lunch hour drew nigh, John wanted to become the scribe. He'd thought of a word to do so I became a guesser. Throughout the game he would erase a letter, add some spaces, then take some (letters and spaces) away. He was so excited. Paul got very frustrated at trying to guess what the answer was. After awhile we started asking for hints. Paul was getting mad enough about the situation that John kept giving hint after hint. He basically told us the answer. His last and most emphatic clue was "It's basketball and it's hockey!" after which I was able to guess "The NBA and the NHL!" He was so excited when we got it I couldn't help but feel excited too. The other student walked away very annoyed with the whole game. I ended up enjoying the best lunchtime I've had in quite awhile. FYI, the marker-board picture up top of this post is the finally of the last lunchtime Hangman game I just explained.

Tromp L'oeil

I love saying the phrase "tromp l'oeil" out loud. It rolls off the tongue funny. Even more than the sound of it, I love what it represents. The French term means "trick of the eye" and is used to describe art pieces that portray such a feat. HERE is a cool link to check out some of Julian Beever's "tromp l'oeils". The below two pictures are from his site:

Dungeon

Fountain

For some Edgar Mueller's works that are neat-o click HERE. Below is a youtube clip of him in action:

After seeing these masterpieces, I bet you want to do one too. Right? I'm including this tricky dragon so you too can participate:

This optical allusion/tromp l'oeil and it's explanation can be found HERE. There is a download posted on the site to allow you the pleasure of making your very own tromp l'oeil dragon! I'll also include the link right HERE. How bout that? Your very own tromp l'oeil to display in your very own home!

Crayons!

This morning I was supposed to be doing a load of homework, but I was way to busy for it. I had important thing on my schedule to do. I spent my time making these:

"What are they," you ask? "They're CRAYONS," I tell you! How fun is that! I took old kindergarten cast offs and chopped them up and stuck them in these IKEA ice cube molds:

I baked them for a while in the oven then froze them to speed the hardening process. I didn't use the classic colored crayons. I used the ones made for construction paper. That's why the color appears pastel. If I didn't know better I'd say the new product looks like erasers but I do know better.

This is one of my favs:

One downfall of the project is that the ice cube trays are ruined. I sprayed Pam on some of the molds and left the others free of spray before I filled them with crayon bits. None of the molds came clean. Oh well. Next time I want to try this ice cube tray that seems more practical for coloring usage:

I'm going to give you some links with legitimate directions to make your very own. I'll also update you when I make crayons again. I bet you can't wait to see the "regular" colored kinds, can you? Here are the links:

Recipes

Martha Stewart's recipe: HERE

Boutique NutMeg Designs: HERE

Make and Takes: HERE

Picture of really cool ones

Pinkpicketfence: HERE

Friday Freebie!

It's been a while but here it is! Friday Freebie! I'd like to say that I strongly dislike when the things I love become trendy, so it is natural that I don't like that Where the Wild Things Are has become so; however, it is definitely a classic that I love and I can't help but participate in the trendiness and post the directions on how to make your very own Max Bag! I haven't made one yet so if you feel so inclined, you can whip an extra one up and send it on over to me. Visit "Meet Me At Mikes" for the directions HERE.

The Darndest Things

Story 1:

Fifth grader Elijah met me on his bike this morning at the crosswalk. He was wearing some catchy sunglasses that were a little too big for his face.

Me: Nice job rockin the sunglasses.

Elijah: Yeah. It's supposed to be 67 degrees today.

I didn't know what to say after that. I chuckled, crossed him to the other side, and chuckled again. I just didn't know what to say.

Story 2:

Yesterday I sat in my mom's kindergarten room during lunch. She had to run and make a few copies, so I was left to watch the naughty kids who had to put their heads down during part of the recess. I told them that if they spoke, they'd get a strike. Three strikes, no recess at all. It was silent until Joe raised his hand. I let it sit in the air for a few seconds while I decided if I wanted to let the joyful silence be broken. Of course I had to let him speak. I couldn't not. I took a breath in, knowing that as soon as Joe said something, everyone else would have something to say as well. I thought he was going to pull a "Can I go to the bathroom?". Wrong I was.

Me: Yes, Joe?

(His back was facing me so he turned around. The look on his face was earnest and his eyes were as big as silver dollars.)

Joe: We have COCKROACHES at my house!

At this point, 2 kids were giggling, 1 still had his head down afraid he'd miss recess, and the kid sitting in the corner had his hand raised high in the air and turned to face me, pleading silently that I would call on him. To avoid cracking up at Joe's remarks, I called on corner-boy-Chase.

Me: Yes?

Chase: One time, there were two cockroaches crawling on my arm and they kissed me, here (he pointed to a spot near his elbow).

I tried so hard not to crack up, but I was definitely smiling. The other kids started getting chatty about cockroaches so...

Me: Joe, strike one. Kiera, strike one. Chase, strike one. John, strike one.

After I called out strikes, the kids were back to silent mode. The one silent student stayed quiet the whole time. Poor guy. I was so proud that he had stayed quiet (he has adhd and is unmedicated) but I sure wished he would have laughed a little. Oh well, he gets his kicks all day long, so it was a character building moment for him, right?

The Dreaded BFS

The staff at the elementary school I work at use a secret code when a certain emergency arises. BFS is the dreaded code name. Everyone at school knows what BFS means but it was a while before I learned what it stands for. BFS=Body Fluid Spill. This acronym represents all possible bodily malfunctions that are let loose and exposed to the general public. An example of its usage, not uncommon or unusual to be heard at school, is "V***y (janitor)? We've got a BFS on the primary playground slide." After V***y is radioed (every time there is an incident) she abandons all tasks to resolve the nasty issue as quickly as possible.

Note: A BFS should not be mistaken with the BFG (The Big Friendly Giant, click HERE to see). While a BFG may have a BFS, a BFS is no BFG.

This is a gross topic, I know. I brought it up because if you ever hear that alarming term in public, you will now know to watch where you step. Or if you ever come upon a spill, you now know the correct terminology to yell out to the rest of the crowd, "BFS!".

Okay, the real reason I addressed this topic is because if you don't like BFS issues, you probably shouldn't watch the youtube video below. It isn't graphic but a BFS is involved. Watch at your own risk of a weakened stomach...

Poem for the day...

I love this poem. It's so melodious and has rich, vibrant imagery.

Daybreak in Alabama

When I get to be a composer
I'm gonna write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama
And I'm gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew.
I'm gonna put some tall tall trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I'm gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
And red clay earth hands in it
Touching everybody with kind fingers
And touching each other natural as dew
In that dawn of music when I
Get to be a composer
And write about daybreak
In Alabama.

Langston Hughes

For All You Pals Out There

I've been feeling the itch to read the Harry Potter Classics again. I remembered this video the other day as I thought about all things Harry. Love it. One time, on a car trip with the fam, we tried to immitate the clip using our own names. It was kind of lame because, well, we are no match for Snape, Ron, Hermoine, Harry, and DUMBLEDORE!

Celebrate Good Times. Come On.

The other night I was driving in the car listening to Queen's "We Will Rock You" and out of nowhere I thought "This has got to be played at my funeral." Whoah. I don't no where it came from and it might not make sense to you but I was definitely feelin it.

Last night sis Las (pronounced Loz) showed me a youtube video of a legitimate wedding procession. Wow. Exactly what I was feelin/envisioning for my earthly departure, only wedding style. For a few brief seconds I thought "Is this a go for major life event number two? Yes. Done deal." Technically the wedding would be event one and the funeral would be number two, a done deal, because, well, I'd be done. In all reality I for sure would never have this happen for my funeral or wedding but I definitely can't say the thoughts didn't cross my mind.... and heart. I was feelin it.

Are you feelin it?

Snaps!

Today I am...

1/20th + 1/5th of a century

1 silver George Washington of a century

Veinte y cinco

30-5

twenty five

25!

Snaps to me. The first goal I wanted to accomplish on my shortly written New Year's to-do list was "turn 25". There. I did it. My life is feeling so productive right now. I'm definitely on a roll.

Mighty Fine

Thanks to my uncle Dave, you may now enjoy:

Book Blog

Alrighty guys. I'll be posting my enthusiasm for books and literacy on a new blog geared for just that. I'll probably post bookish stuff here and there on this blog, but the majority of it will all go to the other. Here's the link...

http://readingalotofbooks.blogspot.com

P.S. The photo was going to be used for a Christmas email but it was too goofy, so I'm posting it here and now. I might as well have sent it in an email, right? Yeah for books!

Human Hamster

In one of my past art history classes, we viewed slides of some modern art movements. One of which was a huge cube of chocolate (I think that's what it was). The art of it was that at the end of each day, the artist would come gnaw on the cube some. A public viewer could visit the exhibit to check on daily progress. After time there was nothing left of it. I'm all about art but I thought that idea was a bit strange. I definitely didn't get the point of it. Anyway, I woke up this morning and found this gnawed hunk of art on the kitchen counter. It started out as a giant chocolate Hersheys Kiss. Brand new, it was a little bigger than the size of my fist. Then the human hamster got to it. Gross, James. I guess this shouldn't be anything shocking. As he (James) always says, "what do you expect? I'm in junior high." The hamster wheels those kids use in gym must be ginormous.

Do-be-do-be-do!

Holy Smokes! This is a long post! I foolishly laid down to rest/think/ponder last night at 7 p.m. I foolishly woke up at 9 p.m. Who does that? To top it off, I chugged some pop as soon as I got up. Needless to say, I later lay in bed trying to go to sleep when I just couldn't take the lying-still-with-jitters-in-the-dark. No more! Regardless of heading back to work and school the next day, I had to get out of bed and jot down the thoughts swimming in my head. I'll blame it on that darn sugary pop. Anyway. My jotting got going and as I had lots of wakefulness, I let it rip out on the key board. I hope it makes sense because once 12:45 rolled around, I was losing patience for organizing my thoughts. So, what you see is what you get. I hope it makes sense. Mostly, I hope it makes sense for me because I'll go back and read it one day and it better make sense. So there. Enjoy, if you dare read the mini-novel of thoughts digested during the early morning hours...

So today in Young Women’s (I’m an advisor for 16-18 year-old girls at church) the lesson had something to do with the effect that we can/how to come to know Christ. One of the leaders made a comment about the way Christ treated people. She gave the example of how he treated “the adulterous woman” when she was brought before Him and the other men (click HERE for the quick story). A thought struck me… For the Savior to be able to treat her in such a manner, with such dignity, He probably didn’t view her or classify or know her as “the adulterous woman”. He didn’t recognize her by her sin. Did He see her as the woman, the spirit that she was before descending to this lone and dreary wasteland called Earth? Did He see her not as an adulteress, but as a divine daughter of His Father? Did He see her in her future full potential, a perfect individual, a ruler and future God? How easy and quick it is in human nature to evaluate/judge a person by immediate or present circumstances, circumstances for which we have such a narrow and sometimes blinded scope of perspective.

I got to further thinking… If we are to become as our Father, we must do as He does to become as He is. Logical, right? One of my childhood friends gave a speech at his high school graduation. I wasn’t there, but saw a video of it much later. His speech was much anticipated and ended up being very brief. I haven’t forgotten it. To begin, he quoted a famous philosopher saying (in essence) that it is our actions that determine what/who we are. He then provided another philosopher’s counter statement saying (in essence) that our actions are determined or stem from who/what we are. He then quoted Scooby-Doo, yes Scooby-Doo, in a manner that in the moment seemed juvenile and irreverent for such a graduation setting. The statement he made was something to the affect of “Maybe the great philosopher Scooby-Doo said it right when he said ‘Do-be-do-be-do’.” His whole speech probably took a whole 2 or 3 min. The audience laughed and graduation went right on with the traditional procedures. I’ve since thought about that quick speech many a time.

There is a fine balance between doing -becoming/being and our doings stemming from that becoming/being. Did that make sense? It’s such an interrelated process (the Scooby-Doo connection made it visual for me). The adulterous woman was mid process of the do-be-do-be-do, and to think that the typifying savior for her turn of doing/being was the Savior who stood right before her. How fortunate for her, right? I find it interesting that the scriptures didn’t include a follow-up of what came from her experience. Did the woman take advantage of her opportunity, truly commune with her Lord, or was she relieved and thankful to get out of a stoning moving forward to carry on with her daily life without that crucial communion? Knowing her outcome wasn’t the intended point of the story, I guess. With the story ending in such a way, I think that I can easily fit myself into her place. Don’t I stand in that same manner before the Savior every Sunday as I, in earnest need, am presented with the opportunity to take the sacrament? Though I have the earnest need, do I wait in reverent anticipation for communion, or are my thoughts quick, trite, and right back on to my Monday to-do list at the flicker of thought? I may not commit adultery very often (all right, I don’t ever) but I do have the same opportunity as that “adulterous” woman to come before the Savior covered in dirt and sin. In fact, unlike the “adulteress”, it isn’t a once in a life-time opportunity for me. I can experience it every week. How blessed and fortunate I am. I wish I could be more instrumental in providing others with the opportunity to receive such numerous, priceless opportunities as I have to sit present before the Lord. I stand in awe that I have those opportunities at my fingertips not just once in a lifetime but every Sunday at 11 o’clock a.m.

Friday Freebie!

It's time for another Friday Freebie! Woohoo! Visit Fonts For Peas to have your very own handwriting transformed into a downloadable font.... for free! There are also some free "cute" fonts available to download. Click HERE to visit the site!!!